Shut Up & Read discussion

Dear All:

I’d like to introduce my book, "Undivided" to you.

Great cultures endure even through tough tests. Despite some voices being louder on the global stage, "Undivided" aims to amplify a significant yet often overlooked human event in the West: the Partition of India.

In a heinous wave of partisan bloodshed, almost 2 million people are killed, 15 million are displaced and about 75,000 women are subjected to unimaginable violence during India's partition into Pakistan in 1947. The scars of those times endure across multiple generations even today, over seventy-five years later. But what if this Partition hadn’t taken place?

Couched in an alternative historical 1940s and 1950s India, "Undivided" centers on this possibility as the backdrop to this story.

Summer 1945 is a messy time and death is in the air. World War Two has consumed 75 million lives, and, in the middle of it all, India loses most of its leadership to a series of dubious accidents. With only Wazir Jahan and his loyal ally Timur Mirza left to govern, an undivided India gains independence from British rule in 1947. But Mirza has his own plans; he starts by deploying his “Hitler-inspired” secret police to enforce sectarian control over a secular society.

Elsewhere, Ram and Fatima, an ordinary inter-faith couple's lives are suddenly disrupted, when a group of unlikely rebels - tenured in their own bitter experiences - seeks to retaliate against Mirza. Led by Shiva, the group desperately needs Ram's help. But Ram and Fatima refuse to cooperate, thrusting themselves into a roller coaster of astonishing events and self-discoveries.

Heather Sangster edited this work. Heather has copy edited and proof-read Margaret Atwood’s poetry and prose, including "The Testaments," the 2019 Booker Prize – winning sequel to "The Handmaids Tale." She also collaborated with Rohinton Mistry on the international acclaimed bestseller (1996 Booker Prize shortlist), "A Fine Balance."

I hope you find the premise interesting enough to read the book. If you do, please share your reviews on Amazon – both positive and negative! Thank you for being part of this journey – all profits will be donated to charity.

Warm regards,
Sid