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Bhutto memoir to Cape

20.05.08 Benedicte Page

Following a visit to London just after the London Book Fair by Fatima Bhutto, niece to Benazir Bhutto and member of Pakistan's powerful political dynasty, David Godwin has sold to Ellah Allfrey at Jonathan Cape Bhutto's family memoir.

Allfrey acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada, India and Pakistan in the as-yet-untitled book for a "substantial" sum. "We went to see six publishers and Fatima really liked two," Godwin said. "We only asked those two to offer; Cape was the best and I think they will publish it brilliantly."

Bhutto's memoir will explore four generations of her family history, marked by tragedy and division: including the stories of her grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, executed in 1979; her uncle Shahnawaz Bhutto, murdered in 1985; her father Murtaza Bhutto, murdered in 1996, and her aunt Benazir Bhutto, assassinated last year.

Allfrey said Fatima's story would challenge the conventional wisdom about Pakistan, and about the relationship between women and power. "It's exciting to have acquired a non-fiction work by a hugely talented young woman that so clearly promises an enhanced, more rounded awareness of the world beyond our newspapers and TV screens," she said.

Fatima Bhutto, who has degrees from Columbia University and SOAS, lives in Karachi and writes a weekly column for Pakistan publications Jang and The News. She has written two previous books, including a volume of poetry and a collection of accounts from survivors of the 2005 earthquake. Cape will publish the memoir in spring 2010.

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