Partition Voices: Untold British Stories

Puri, Kavita

£9.99

Dotted across homes in Britain are people who were witnesses to one of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century. Yet their memory of India’s Partition has been shrouded in silence. Kavita Puri’s father was twelve when he found himself one of the millions of Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims caught up in the devastating aftermath of a hastily drawn border. He remained silent – like so many – about the horrors he had seen for seventy years. When her father finally spoke out, opening up a forgotten part of Puri’s family history, she was compelled to seek out the stories of South Asians who were once subjects of the British Raj, and are now British citizens. Determined to preserve these accounts – of the end of empire and the difficult birth of two nations – Puri records these first-hand testimonies, as well as those of their children and grandchildren whose lives are shaped by Partition’s legacy.

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Publish Date: 09/07/2020
ISBN: 9781408898987 Category: Tag:

Description

‘The most humane account of partition I’ve read ? We need a candid conversation about our past and this is an essential starting point’ Nikesh Shukla, Observer‘The book of 2019 that opened my eyes more than anything else. Seminal work, beautifully told’ Emily Maitlis‘Opens a fascinating and necessary conversation about contemporary Britain and its people – where they have come from, what they have done, and who they may now want to be’ Times Literary SupplementThe division of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 into India and Pakistan saw millions uprooted and resulted in unspeakable violence. It happened far away, but it would shape modern Britain.Dotted across homes in Britain are people who were witnesses to one of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century. But their memory of Partition has been shrouded in silence. In her eye-opening and timely work, Kavita Puri uncovers remarkable testimonies from former subjects of the Raj who are now British citizens – including her father. Weaving a tapestry of human experience over seven decades, Puri reveals a secret history of ruptured families and friendships, extraordinary journeys and daring rescue missions that reverberates with compassion and loss. It is a work that breaks the silence and confronts the difficult truths at the heart of Britain’s shared past with South Asia.

Additional information

Weight 255 g
Dimensions 198 × 129 × 26 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

xiii, 294 , 16 unnumbered of plates

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

954.042 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K