The marriage was a disaster and her daughter was mentally challenged. She wanted a better life and applied for foreign scholarships.

In the course of time, Misra met her childhood sweetheart, who was still unmarried. She filed for divorce, re-married and managed to get custody of her daughter. She moved to London in 1990.

A University of Kerala graduate, she has two degrees from the University of London.

'I took to writing in 1999,' said Misra. 'Basically, I was working as a radio journalist in BBC, but they put me on the early morning shift. Since, she (my daughter) was young, she needed me. I gave up my job and started to write a memoir because I was bored. It became my first book, 'Ancient Promises'. Then events overtook me,' she explained.

Journalism has helped Misra evolve as a writer. 'Though I was a broadcast journalist, BBC trained me to write. I learnt how to be brief, concise, fast and to meet deadlines.'

Though she has written five books, 'Rani' continues to draw the maximum attention.

'I guess the fact that I live in south of London, where Charles Dickens lived, got me on to historical fiction. I grew into the local history and when I decided to write a historical fiction, it had to be India. Historical fictions give you more sense of the place than real history,' she said.

In the context of the ban on her book 'Rani' in Uttar Pradesh, the writer said that she hates being muzzled. 'I certainly don't believe that one can have unqualified freedom of expression, but offence is a very individual emotion that cannot be legislated against. What offends me may not offend another. But people unfortunately are too easily offended in India. I think printed words should remain above protests. A writer should feel relatively free to write what he or she wants to.'

Misra said: 'Bundelkhand was simmering with tension when 'Rani' was released in 2008 and the local politicians used it as a tool to divert attention from the issue.'