Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence

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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 Husains 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 familys 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 Asias fragmentation, which confronts the breakdown of cross-cultural kinship through the eyes of people who lived through it.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR MISHAL HUSAIN:

'She has quietly earned a reputation as one of the countrys 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 Husains 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 Gonzlez Durntez

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; its more a feminist manifesto Daily Mail

Author Bio

Mishal Husain is one of the presenters of BBC Radio 4's influential Today programme and the television news on BBC One. Her work has taken her from Davos to Rohingya refugee camps and from interviewing Prime Ministers to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Mishal has been named by the Sunday Times as one of the 500 most influential people in Britain. Born in the UK in 1973, she grew up in the Middle East and was later educated at Cambridge University, where she read law.