Shattered Lands
- Author Sam Dalrymple
- Narrator Sam Dalrymple
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date 19 June 2025
- Run Time 15 hours and 51 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Asian history, National liberation and independence.
Click to open directly in the xigxag app.
Flexible Pricing & Rewards For Listening
At xigxag, the more you read, the less you pay* on select audiobook and x-book® titles, as in the table below. Pricing updates automatically in the app and resets one year after your first purchase. And you can always find a selection of brilliant titles available for only €4.95.
*Only the full price titles you buy count toward your personal pricing tier. Full price titles don’t include Listen for Less or other books bought with a voucher or discount code.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- €9.95
- €8.95
- €7.95
- €6.95
- €5.95
Listen to a sample
What to expect
** THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER **
A Best Book of 2025 for the Financial Times, The Week, Spectator, BBC History Magazine, NPR, Waterstones and Daunts
'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' PETER FRANKOPAN
'Remarkable … The prose is vivid, the storytelling cinematic' GUARDIAN
A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it.
As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait – were bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the ‘Indian Empire’, or more simply as the Raj.
It was the British Empire’s crown jewel, a vast dominion stretching from the Red Sea to the jungles of Southeast Asia, home to a quarter of the world’s population and encompassing the largest Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities on the planet. Its people used the Indian rupee, were issued passports stamped ‘Indian Empire’, and were guarded by armies garrisoned in forts from the Bab el-Mandeb to the Himalayas
And then, in the space of just fifty years, the Indian Empire shattered. Five partitions tore it apart, carving out new nations, redrawing maps, and leaving behind a legacy of war, exile and division.
Shattered Lands, for the first time, presents the whole story of how the Indian Empire was unmade. How a single, sprawling dominion became twelve modern nations. How maps were redrawn in boardrooms and on battlefields, by politicians in London and revolutionaries in Delhi, by kings in remote palaces and soldiers in trenches.
Its legacies include civil war in Burma and ongoing insurgencies in Kashmir, Baluchistan and Northeast India, and the Rohingya genocide. It is a history of ambition and betrayal, of forgotten wars and unlikely alliances, of borders carved with ink and fire. And, above all, it is the story of how the map of modern Asia was made.
Sam Dalrymple’s stunning history is based on deep archival research, previously untranslated private memoirs, and interviews in English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Konyak, Arabic and Burmese. From portraits of the key political players to accounts of those swept up in these wars and mass migrations, Shattered Lands is vivid, compelling, thought-provoking history at its best.
** Shattered Lands is being translated into four languages (Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam and Hindi), and was shortlisted for the Eastern Eye Award for History, the Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman and Atta Galatta prizes. **
‘A stunning achievement. Shattered Lands reframes the story of South Asia with rare empathy and elegance, breathing life into the legacies of the partitions that shape a quarter of our world today’ THANT MYINT-U
‘This richly researched, vividly written book tells the story of how a colossal and powerful Empire was broken up into many distinct nation-states…An impressive debut by a gifted and very energetic young writer’ RAMACHANDRA GUHA
Critics Review
n A Best Book of 2025 for the Financial Times, The Week, Spectator, BBC History Magazine, NPR, Waterstones and Dauntsn
n'Remarkable … the prose is vivid, the storytelling cinematic, and Dalrymple draws together forgotten archives from Aden to Assam. Above all, there is a refusal to mythologise, and instead a clear-eyed history that lays bare the possibilities foreclosed by the region’s fragmentation' GUARDIAN
n‘This book is a revelation. Sam Dalrymple’s charting of these five moments is both original and important, adding a valuable layer to our understanding of a vast region of the world’ MISHAL HUSAIN
n'Excellent … expertly examines the way the Indian empire was divided into 12 separate nation states between 1931 and 1971 … packed with riveting detail' INDEPENDENT
n'Ambitious… an impressive debut… He brings to his material an unmoralistic, but not amoral, even-handedness. He is clear-eyed in his judgment of administrative folly and doesn’t hold back when the archives throw up yet another pith-helmeted buffoon from central casting to decry for his misjudgments' THE TIMES
n'Shattered Lands has a huge range, and the material is deftly handled …Dalrymple delivers his account at pace and with a keen eye for the telling detail … A book that combines scholarship with a flair for narrative story-telling of the highest order' SPECTATOR
n'A remarkable debut… With Shattered Lands, [Dalymple] has injected new life into partition studies, and his account is unlikely to be soon surpassed' TLS
n'The very title of Sam Dalrymple s magnificent book underlines how vital a portrayal of the Indian subcontinent in the 20th century it provides… The scope and verve of Shattered Lands makes it a wonderful read … He tells an extremely sad tale very well' IRISH TIMES
n‘This richly researched, vividly written book tells the story of how a colossal and powerful Empire was broken up into many distinct nation-states…An impressive debut by a gifted and very energetic young writer’ RAMACHANDRA GUHA
nAbout xigxag
Experience the best audiobooks with xigxag, an innovative and user-friendly audiobook platform designed for seamless discovery, purchase, and enjoyment of your favorite titles. Our flexible pricing model offers bestselling audiobooks for less, providing affordable prices and the best audiobook deals without requiring a subscription. Perfect for gifting, xigxag also features convenient audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.
Beyond the listening experience, xigxag stands as an exciting alternative to big tech, embodying a strong commitment to sustainability and ethical practices. As the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service, we ensure a guilt-free listening experience from a leader in audiobook innovation.
Effortlessly search audiobooks, access honest audiobook reviews that evaluate both the content and narration, and easily discover hidden gems. Whether you prefer to download or stream top audiobook titles, xigxag provides the best possible listening experience anytime, anywhere, on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Discover the future of audiobooks today.