In a deeply personal investigation, award-winning journalist Sadiya Ansari takes us across three continents and back a century as she seeks the truth behind a family secret. Why did her grandmother Tahira abandon her seven children to follow a man from Karachi to a tiny village in Punjab? And though she eventually left the man, Tahira remained estranged from her children for nearly two decades. Who was she in those years when she was no longer a wife or mother? For Sadiya herself, uninterested in marriage and children, the question begets another: What space is available to women who defy cultural expectations?
Through her inquiry, Sadiya discovers what her daadi's life was like during that separation and she confronts difficult historical truths: the pervasiveness of child marriage, how Partition made refugees of millions of families like hers, and how the national freedoms achieved in 1947 did not extend to women’s lives. She sees the threads of this history woven through each generation after, and finds an unexpected sense of belonging in a culture that, at first blush, shuns women for wanting lives of their own.
In a deeply personal investigation, award-winning journalist Sadiya Ansari takes us across three continents and back a century as she seeks the truth behind a family secret. Why did her grandmother Tahira abandon her seven children to follow a man from Karachi to a tiny village in Punjab? And though she eventually left the man, Tahira remained estranged from her children for nearly two decades. Who was she in those years when she was no longer a wife or mother? For Sadiya herself, uninterested in marriage and children, the question begets another: What space is available to women who defy cultural expectations?
Through her inquiry, Sadiya discovers what her daadi's life was like during that separation and she confronts difficult historical truths: the pervasiveness of child marriage, how Partition made refugees of millions of families like hers, and how the national freedoms achieved in 1947 did not extend to women’s lives. She sees the threads of this history woven through each generation after, and finds an unexpected sense of belonging in a culture that, at first blush, shuns women for wanting lives of their own.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Aug 13, 2024 |
| Specifications | 232 pages | 5.5 in x 8.5 in |
| Written By |
SADIYA ANSARI is a Pakistani Canadian journalist based in London. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, VICE, Refinery29, Maclean’s, The Walrus, and the Globe and Mail, among others. She has reported from North America, Asia, and Europe, and her work has changed legislation and won awards. She is co-founder of the Canadian Journalists of Colour, a 2021 R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellow, and a 2023–24 Asper Visiting Professor at the University of British Columbia. |
| Written By |
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SADIYA ANSARI is a Pakistani Canadian journalist based in London. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, VICE, Refinery29, Maclean’s, The Walrus, and the Globe and Mail, among others. She has reported from North America, Asia, and Europe, and her work has changed legislation and won awards. She is co-founder of the Canadian Journalists of Colour, a 2021 R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellow, and a 2023–24 Asper Visiting Professor at the University of British Columbia. |
In Exile is more than a memoir—it’s a fascinating excavation of Sadiya Ansari’s family mythology. Devastating, sensitive, and generous, In Exile is a beautiful story of how women caught in the middle of politics and patriarchy make the hardest of decisions. A searing, gorgeous read.
” —Jen Sookfong Lee, author of Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My HeartIn Exile blends the best of memoir, mystery, and investigative journalism. Wry and relatable, Sadiya Ansari is a gifted storyteller who confronts the impacts of Partition and the pitfalls of memory to piece together a personal history that poses broader questions about what it means to be a wife, a mother, and a woman—and what happens when women take meaning into their own hands. Filled with vulnerability and revelation, this book explores what unexpected flowers may bloom from even the most tangled family roots.
” —Anuja Varghese, Governor General’s Literary Award–winning author of ChrysalisI am completely floored by this book. What Sadiya Ansari manages to accomplish here is a rare, miraculous feat—a high-wire act of boundless empathy and incisive investigation. In Exile is a curious and profound book, as rigorous as it is tender. When a writer is willing to be this honest and this vulnerable, it is always a gift that I do not take for granted. Sadiya carefully pulls together threads of painful family history and questions that go unspoken to create a deeply poignant and unforgettable work.
” —Elamin Abdelmahmoud, author of Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in PiecesIn Exile is a study in making choices that reverberate across generations. It adds an important vantage point to the aftermath of the Partition and how it continues to shape so many. It’s a rallying cry to honour our pasts. Sadiya’s journalistic eye offers a crucial historical glimpse into what was lost during the Partition.
” —Samra Habib, author of We Have Always Been Here