HarperCollins is proud to announce 'Lahore: Book 1 of the Partition Trilogy' by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

NEW DELHI, Aug. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HarperCollins is proud to announce a literary thriller that takes one back to the turbulent year of Independence 'LAHORE: BOOK 1 OF THE PARTITION TRILOGY' by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar.

"As the men fought over religion and maps, the Partition heaped unspeakable atrocities on women. Manreet's book is a faithful, unforgiving look at what was and also what shouldn't have been. Lahore is breathtaking in scope, painful yet gentle to the touch."  - Taslima Nasreen, author of Lajja and Shameless

"Vivid and atmospheric. By deftly weaving the personal and the political, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar transports us to the uncertain months leading up to the tragedy of Partition." - Aanchal Malhotra, author of Remnants of a Separation

"A timely reminder of what differences and divisions can do … An engaging read that tries to humanize the politics of the Partition. Current, relevant and important. This is a voice which makes you question, rethink and reimagine the past as the future and the future as the past. A voice to pay attention to in these times of rising intolerance and right-wing extremism. A voice of reason and reckoning." - Sabyn Javeri, author of Hijabistan

"Tension pervades this first part of Manreet Sodhi Someshwar's Partition trilogy. It wafts through the corridors of power, penetrates bonds between friends and lovers, and befouls the earth itself. Without releasing the reader from its ominous undercurrent, Manreet deftly weaves the big strands of history with the finer threads of human feeling, reminding us of a calamity that tore apart not just nations and states but also the heart and spirit of a people." - Manu S. Pillai, author of The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore

On her forthcoming publication, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, award-winning author of The Radiance of a Thousand Suns, says: "The Partition Trilogy is the culmination of a two-decade quest to research and write about an event that is concomitant with independence, that has been pushed to the margins of our collective memory, yet one that is wholly resonant with our times. Set in the months leading up to independence, Lahore, Book 1 of the trilogy, will hurtle you towards 15 August - fasten your seatbelts! I'm delighted to share that Lahore releases this September from my wonderful publishers, HarperCollins India." 

Udayan Mitra, Executive Publisher, HarperCollins India, says: "1947 was a year India will never forget: not only because it was the year that the nation attained freedom, but because it was a year that would change the individual lives and destinies of millions of people. Lahore, the first novel in Manreet Sodhi Someshwar's Partition trilogy, takes us back to that crucial year; as the country stumbles towards Independence and Partition, gripping personal stories takes shape alongside the unfolding political drama. Lahore is a joy to read and a wonderful book with which to revisit the most important year in India's history. It's a novel that we at HarperCollins India are very proud to publish."

Prema Govindan, Senior Commissioning Editor, Literary, HarperCollins India, says: "Manreet's writing has a special place in my heart, for she places the individual and the woman above all the politics and the violence. The Partition Trilogy, while being true to history, is a voicing of "herstory" too, and I am glad that we at HarperCollins India are the medium to tell it."

About the book

In the months leading up to independence, in Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel are engaged in deliberations with British Viceroy Dickie Mountbatten over the fate of the country. In Lahore, Sepoy Malik returns home from the Great War hoping to win his sweetheart Tara's hand in marriage, only to find divide-and-rule holding sway, and love, friendships and familial bonds being tested. 

Set in parallel threads across these two cities, Lahore is a behind-the-scenes look into the negotiations and the political skullduggery that gave India its freedom, the price for which was batwara. As the men make the decisions and wield the swords, the women bear the brunt of the carnage that tears through India in the sticky hot months of its cruellest summer ever.

Backed by astute research, The Partition Trilogy captures the frenzy of Indian independence, the Partition and the accession of the states, and takes readers back to a time of great upheaval and churn.

About The Partition Trilogy

Set in the months leading up to and following India obtaining freedom in 1947, this trilogy is an exploration of the events, exigencies and decisions that led to the independence of India, its concomitant partition, and the accession of princely states alongside. A literary political thriller that captures the frenzy of the time, the series is set in Delhi, Lahore, Hyderabad and Kashmir. Covering a vast canvas, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Dickie Mountbatten share space in the trilogy with the ordinary people from the cities that were affected by the partition and the reorganization of the states.

Backed by astute research that ensures the authenticity of the political thread, The Partition Trilogy will take readers back into a world of great political upheaval and churn. In its fresh, incisive and insightful portrayal of a cataclysm that haunts us to this day, The Partition Trilogy is both spellbinding and believable - a remarkable feat.

About the author

Manreet Sodhi Someshwar is a bestselling writer of six books, including the award-winning The Radiance of a Thousand Suns and the critically acclaimed The Long Walk Home. Hailed as 'a star on the literary horizon' by Khushwant Singh and garnering endorsements from Gulzar for two of her books, Manreet and her work have featured at literary festivals. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, the South China Morning Post and several Indian publications. Manreet lives in New York City with her husband, daughter and cat.

About HarperCollins Publishers

HarperCollins Publishers India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers. HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Prabha Khaitan Woman's Voice Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and the Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India has been awarded the Publisher of the Year Award three times: at Publishing Next in 2015, and at Tata Literature Live! in 2016 and 2018.HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Egmont, Oneworld, Harvard University Press, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet.

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Krishna Arora
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HarperCollins Publishers India

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