In Exile - by Sadiya Ansari (Paperback)

About the Book

"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"--

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Globe 100 Best Book of 2024!
The Hill Times 100 Best Book of 2024

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 him, 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.

Review Quotes

"In Exile is a remarkable act of both courage and compassion. Blending profound empathy and journalistic rigor, Ansari's deft hands weave the fissures of family silence into an insightful portrait of a culture that belittles complex women into far smaller lives than they deserve. This book is an act of reclamation." -- Tessa Hulls, Pulitzer Prize winning artist and author of Feeding Ghosts

"[A] triumphant debut ... insightful, surprising, and beautifully written." -- Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

"[In Exile] reveals that the power of a story lies in who tells it. " -- EVENT Magazine

"A thoughtful and informative memoir and familial investigation." -- Kirkus

"This biography is not about joyful memories nor a happy ending, but rather an acknowledgment of a woman's past leading to a new generation's healing and forgiveness in the present." -- BUST

"Astounding." -- Globe and Mail

"[In Exile] brings the plight of women and refugee families into sharp, empathetic focus." -- Booklist