London, March 29 :    London, March 29:  Sonia Gandhi has taken 'strong exception' to the new biography of Indira Gandhi and is even considering 'legal action' to prevent its distribution, the book's British publishers, HarperCollins, said in London today. In Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi, published in London earlier this month, the American-born author, Katherine Frank, examines intimate aspects of her subject's life. What appears to have especially upset Sonia is the suggestion that Indira's husband, Feroze Gandhi, may have had an improper relationship with his mother-in-law, Kamala Nehru. It is understood that Sonia, who met the author on four occasions and assisted her by providing contacts, feels that the biography 'besmirches' the memory of her mother-in-law. Helen Ellis, spokesperson for HarperCollins in London, said the firm's representatives in India were trying to calm down the controversy. She blamed 'hysterical' accounts of aspects of the book, notably in a magazine. 'The article has misrepresented the book,' said Ellis. However, a reading of the article shows it is substantially based on the book. It is estimated that 4,000 copies of the biography, which has been widely reviewed and generally praised in Britain, have been exported to India. Frank launched the book at the Nehru Centre, technically a part of the Indian High Commission, in London. The book says that Indira slept with Feroze before marriage. It also deals with claims that Indira had an affair with her father's private secretary, M.O. Mathai. It was Mathai himself who encouraged such speculation, including the suggestion that he had made Indira pregnant. The author said that while she accepted that the Congress president was upset, 'she cannot have read the book. There is nothing to get upset about'. As a biographer, she had to deal with the rumours and a poster campaign in Allahabad that Feroze had had a relationship with Kamala. But Frank said she had made it clear that 'an affair between Kamala and Feroze, however, was inconceivable given Kamala's poor health, her values and the complete lack of privacy at Anand Bhavan, though it is true that Feroze often travelled with her'. She also thought it was 'unlikely' that Indira had been involved sexually with Mathai. 'This is a serious book,' she said. 'I don't want to be seen as sensational. I have spent six years writing it.' HarperCollins, however, must have mixed feelings about the controversy, which is bound to help sales. In western biographies, authors attempt to dig out as much new material on the personal lives of their subjects. Anything salacious or damaging is considered a bonus, whereas in India the distinction between a biography and a hagiography is still to be established.