Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence

My Family From Empire to Independence

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Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence

By: Mishal Husain

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About this listen

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER

ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING FINALIST

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WESTMINSTER BOOK AWARDS

'One of the best memoirs I've read in years’ SATHNAM SANGHERA

‘Beautifully written, emotional and deeply personal, yet universal … One can't help but be moved by this story of upheaval and transformation’ SADIQ KHAN

An extraordinary family memoir from acclaimed newsreader and journalist, Mishal Husain, uncovering the story of her grandparents' lives amidst empire, political upheaval and partition.

‘I witnessed the dwindling glow of the British Empire. I saw small men entrusted with great jobs, playing with the destiny of millions’

The lives of Mishal Husain’s grandparents changed forever in 1947, as the new nation states of India and Pakistan were born. For years she had a partial story, a patchwork of memories and anecdotes: hurried departures, lucky escapes from violence and homes never seen again.

Decades later, the fragment of an old sari sent Mishal on a journey through time, using letters, diaries, memoirs and audio tapes to trace four lives shaped by the Raj, a world war, independence and partition.

Mumtaz rejects the marriage arranged for him as he forges a life with Mary, a devout Catholic from an Anglo-Indian family, while Tahirah and Shahid watch the politics of pre-partition Delhi unfold at close quarters. As freedom comes, bonds fray and communities are divided, leaving two couples to forge new identities, while never forgetting the shared heritage of the past.

‘Husain has written an arresting family memoir … her explanation of partition is more level-headed than that of many professional historians’ THE TIMES

‘A spectacular achievement. It is an incisive and carefully researched historical account, and as moving and true a personal narrative’ GUARDIAN

'[Husain] has managed to make such a complex story so accessible' OBSERVER

‘I was so moved by this stirring and deeply moving account that is at once a love story as well as a chronicle of one of the most cataclysmic events in South Asia’ BARKHA DUTT

'Like silks in the precious fragment of the heirloom sari of its title, Broken Threads is woven from rich sources. It is a beautiful book, informed and informative, cool and factual, poetic and elegiac' FINANCIAL TIMES

‘A deeply engrossing book … I was completely gripped by it’ INDIA KNIGHT

20th Century

Asia

Colonialism & Post-Colonialism

Modern

Politics & Government

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Critic reviews

'[A] superb family history that teems with historical colour and details that both fascinate and shock … Broken Threads is a calm and compassionate tale; but it also offers an accessible primer on a little-understood area of recent world history’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

'A rigorous historical account … Husain did what she knew best: a forensic eye was cast over boxes of source material, she sifted through archives and interviewed characters on the periphery of the story to weave together something personal, yes, but also deeply political and resonant’ BRITISH VOGUE

‘Mishal Husain weaves an intricate family web that catches all the hope and optimism, as well as the tragedy and disappointment of the birth of Pakistan and independent India in 1947. With clarity, warmth and profound sympathy, as well as some brilliant archival detective work, she performs a fascinating act of reconstruction’ WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

‘At times this book feels like vital history, which just happens to read like a great novel. At other times, it reads like a novel that just happens to inform us about great history’ SATHNAM SANGHERA

‘The most important and accessible book I have ever read about the days leading up to and surrounding the partition of India. I read it as one would a thriller, a page-turner; a fabulous achievement by a skilled writer, packed with facts but floating like a butterfly’ JOANNA LUMLEY

'A love story and an extraordinary personal journey set against some of the greatest upheavals of the 21st century … As moving as it is important’ PETER FRANKOPAN

‘An unflinching portrait of a family splintered by partition. Husain’s beautifully written family memoir examines the shared trauma that so many families like hers endured, finding hope and compassion in one of South Asia’s darkest chapters’ JEMIMA KHAN

‘The play between darkness and light, the assiduous research and emotional literacy makes Broken Threads one of the best books ever on the epochs that shaped three nations. A triumph’ i News

Most relevant

What an absolutely incredible book. The history of lives during such a turbulent period. Told with such clarity, intelligence, and empathy. You just want to know more about this time which is so poorly discussed. The lives of the women especially struck me for their bravery and fortitude. Mishal’s narration is just divine to listen to, so well articulated and intoned. Best audiobook I’ve listened to this year.