Broken Threads

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

About the author

Mishal Husain is a journalist and broadcaster whose first book was The Skills: How to Win at Work. She was a presenter of BBC Radio 4’s influential Today programme and is now at Bloomberg as host of a new global interview show.

Her work in journalism has taken her around the world, from refugee camps in Lebanon and Bangladesh to the recent Coronation and election debates between politicians in the UK. Her interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was seen around the world and she has fronted TV documentaries on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, on the Arab uprisings of 2011, and on Malala Yousafzai.

In 2024 she won the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Journalism.