Category: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury (forthcoming)
Rights: World rights available (excluding Indian subcontinent)
Displacement is hard, especially when it comes after a traumatic time like Partition where you leave a country and home you grew up in and seek refuge in a strange land accepting whatever life has to offer.
Farewell Karachi is the story of a family at the cusp of a changing India. Spanning over 100 years and five generations, it is an intimate account of a large Gujarati family, the hardships and sacrifices made by parents to ensure a secure future for their eight children in a rapidly growing country.
Stories of celebrations, of heartbreaks, of festering wounds that evoke painful memories even after all these years.
Author Bhawana Somaaya, the youngest of the siblings, captures a moving portrait of a blossoming family tree, their ancestral homes in Karachi, Pakistan in 1900 and later Kutch, Gujarat post partition. The imagery captured reflects the customs, cuisines, and traditions of an era gone by. The book is an emotional journey from the British Raj to Indian showbusiness in the 21st century.
The author: Bhawana Somaaya