The Lines We Draw - by Tim Franks (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A moving, deeply empathetic memoir about Jewish family and history, which encourages us all to confront the lines we draw.

As a Jewish journalist covering the Middle East, Tim Franks has over the years been accused of being both a self-hating Jew and an Islamophobe. He always tried to draw a clear line between his identity and his work. Up to the point that he asked himself: is that necessary? Is it such a combustible mix? They were questions he struggled to answer. To begin with, he was a Jew without much of a back-story.
So he set out on a journey for his ancestral roots, one which took him from Constantinople to Curaçao, from Auschwitz to Lithuania to Downing Street. Along the way he challenged how he saw not just himself but the world. This is a moving, deeply empathetic memoir, which encourages us all to confront the lines we draw.
TIM FRANKS presents Newshour on the BBC World Service, with a global audience of millions. He was previously a BBC reporter for almost two decades, including nine years as an award-winning foreign correspondent. He has covered several major conflicts. And spent two years as the BBC's least likely sports correspondent.

Review Quotes

"The book is stunning. He is an extraordinary writer. Such erudition. Wisdom. Humanity. And humour. A work of immense generosity at a time when we badly need it." --Fergal Keane, Irish foreign correspondent, BBC News

"What a brave outpouring! Tim Franks' book The Lines We Draw is the light in the dark channel of finding who we are. It opens up a new perspective, showing that identity is no longer defined only by primitive attributes like gender, skin colour, nationality or religion, but by the courage to grow beyond restrictions and recognize the depth and significance of the world beyond ourselves." --Xinran, author of The Promise

About the Author

Tim Franks has presented Newshour, the flagship news and current affairs programme on the BBC World Service, since 2013. Before that, he spent almost 20 years as a reporter, nine of them as a foreign correspondent, covering several major conflicts. He cut his teeth reporting on the Troubles in Northern Ireland and became the Today programme's special political correspondent.

Tim won one of the most prestigious international war-reporting awards - the Bayeux - for his coverage of war in Gaza.