Mishal Husain's memoir goes to Fourth Estate

Fourth Estate will publish Broken Threads, a family memoir by broadcaster Mishal Husain.  

Louise Haines, publishing director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Elly James at HHB Agency. Broken Threads: My Family From Empire To Independence will be published on 6th June 2024.

“This gripping family memoir tells the story of Mishal’s four grandparents, born into the British Raj in India and witnesses to the turbulent years leading to Partition and the birth of independent India and Pakistan,” the publisher said. 

 “It is a tale of two couples, navigating personal choices in a society transforming through political awakening and the impact of the world wars. 

“This deeply moving book explains the tumultuous end to colonial rule in India and the founding of the new country of Pakistan, through the stories of people who lived through it.” 

Haines said: “Through diaries, letters, tapes and unpublished memoirs (as well as formidable research), Mishal brings vividly to life the experiences of her grandparents. Through these engaging personalities we learn of the events that shook South Asia and that still resonate today.”     

Husain said: “This has been a voyage of discovery, into the way the 20th-Century shift from empire to nation state shaped my family and reverberates down the generations. It’s a story of Britain as well as India and Pakistan and of links between communities and across borders, alongside loss and separation.”