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Broken Threads

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What to expect

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

The extraordinary story of broadcaster Mishal Husain’s grandparents, whose lives were shaped by the tumultuous politics and prejudices of empire, war and partition.

Weaving an ancestral odyssey, Mishal sheds light on the last generation born into the Raj in India, amid substantial societal shifts. Mary, a devout Catholic, leaves her struggling Anglo-Indian family to train as a nurse on the other side of India. Mumtaz challenges his family’s expectations as he forges a professional life as a doctor. Tahirah is born into a middle-class Muslim home and has opportunities and freedoms unknown to previous generations of women. And Shahid finds purpose as a Sandhurst cadet, later working for Field-Marshal Auchinleck at the heart of events in Delhi.

Through meticulous research and intimate first-hand accounts, this gripping family history traces the lasting impact of nationalist movements, civil disobedience and the Second World War as the final phase of British empire winds up in India. Diaries, letters and tapes offer profound and heartrending insight into the 1947 partition and its defining figures, including Jinnah, Nehru, Gandhi, Wavell and Mountbatten. Families and communities are divided, childhood homes are left behind and the two couples must forge new identities while navigating the birth of independent India and the new state of Pakistan.

Broken Threads is a personal and vivid portrait of South Asia’s fragmentation, which confronts the breakdown of cross-cultural kinship through the eyes of people who lived through it.

Critics Review

  • PRAISE FOR MISHAL HUSAIN:

    ‘She has quietly earned a reputation as one of the country’s most formidable political interviewers. Fellow broadcasters admire her precision – and politicians admit that the prospect of facing her questions makes them uneasy’ Amelia Gentleman, Guardian

    PRAISE FOR THE SKILLS:

    ‘A compelling primer on how women can forge a path to success. The practicality and clarity of Husain’s advice offers a source of new strength for women in the daily battle to both fulfil their potential and get their due in the workplace’ Tina Brown

    ‘This book is a must-read for anyone (woman or man) who aspires to reach the top of their game’ Miriam González Durántez

    ‘From speaking up to rising up, this book is full of practical advice for young women ready to realise their full potential’ Malala Yousafzai

    ‘With the confidence and authority of a woman who has both attained her dream job and loves it, she meditates on what it took for her – and other women – to work their way there. This is not a memoir; it’s more a feminist manifesto’ Daily Mail

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