Seventy years ago this week, British-ruled India was divided into India and Pakistan. But the partition was a traumatic one: Some 15 million people were displaced and over a million people were estimated killed in the violence that erupted.
Over the years both Indian and Pakistani authors have addressed partition in their works. NPR Asia editor Nishant Dahiya (@nprnishant) joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young with his picks for books that best illuminate the topic, and discusses how the stories also resonate with today’s readers.
5 Partition Book Picks From NPR’s Nishant Dahiya
- “Midnight’s Children,” by Salman Rushdie
- “Midnight’s Furies,” by Nisid Hajari
- “Train To Pakistan,” by Khushwant Singh
- “Bitter Harvest,” by Saadat Hasan Manto
- “Basti,” by Intizar Husain
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