Partition Voices

An original and moving collection of testimonies from British Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus about the transformative era of India's partition

Guardian, 50 Best Books of the Summer

Thanks to Ms. Puri and others, [that] silence is giving way to inquisitive—and assertive—voices. In Britain, at least, the partitioned have learned to speak frankly of the past—and to search for ways to reckon with it - Wall Street Journal

With a masterful mix of history, biography and contemporary reportage, Puri crafts a fascinating account of the living memory of South Asia in modern Britain. This book brings together a rich and disparate chronicle of lives ripped apart and remade by the trauma of partition, and deftly traces how the diaspora of post-colonial India and Pakistan helped to reshape the UK. Perceptive, enriching, shocking and joyful, Puri’s is a powerful and courageous book for multicultural Britain

Tristram Hunt

Confronts the difficult truths at the heart of Britain’s shared – and often ignored – shared history with South Asia

Stylist, Best non-fiction books of 2019

One of my favourite books and an important one ... Changed the way I see the world

Jeremy Vine

An intimate, moving and important book by a daughter of partition. Kavita Puri reveals untold stories of those who lived through one of the most violent political earthquakes of the twentieth century. These are stories we need to hear

Kirsty Wark

This collection reveals how families are still impacted generations down the line and is a crucial read for understanding South Asian history

Cosmopolitan

An amazing, deeply moving book

Dan Snow

The most extraordinary book. The prologue already had me in tears. This is history – often being told out loud for the very first time ... The book of 2019 that opened my eyes more than anything else. Seminal work, beautifully told

Emily Maitlis

A powerful and timely work. Kavita Puri coaxes often unspeakable and unspoken memories from a time of unimaginable trauma. A must-read for those interested in the fault lines in today's geopolitics

Anita Anand

Powerful, compelling and heartbreaking – these are stories of division and conflict rescued from the past that offer valuable lessons for the present

Sarfraz Manzoor

Partition Voices takes its place alongside other valuable books on partition such as Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan and Urvashi Butalia's The Other Side of Silence

Eastern Eye

An evocative book that leaves you breathless with its human predicament and gives voice to stories long held prisoner to silence ... Nobody has ever brought out the stories of South Asians now settled in the United Kingdom ... Kudos to Kavita Puri for documenting Partition’s lasting legacy in Britain, an irony in itself. It is a unique book, one that lives with you long after the stories end

Frontline Magazine

Puri’s excellent book is a welcome antidote to British amnesia over its colonial legacy. Partition is not just an Indian story, it is a British one too

All About History

An important document of those turbulent times - raw and unbiased

The Hindu

This is an essential book, remarkable in its reach and power. It brings the difficulty of how we pass on stories across generations into a moving and beautiful focus. Partition Voices is a book of witness and testimony that should have the widest readership possible.

Edmund de Waal