The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab

In this gripping memoir, Marina Wheeler tells the story of her mother’s early years shaped by the Partition and her subsequent search for personal and political freedom.

Marina Wheeler

Marina Wheeler QC is a British lawyer, author and columnist. As a barrister, she specialises in public law, including human rights, and is a member of the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2016. She was educated at the European School of Brussels, and then in the early 1980s at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where she wrote for the student magazine Cantab. Marina’s ancestry via her mother, Dip Singh, is rooted in the city of Sargodha in West Punjab, present-day Pakistan, with her maternal family migrating to present-day India after the Partition of India.

In conversation with Kavita Puri, Marina Wheeler joins the UKPHA Bookclub to tell the story of her mother’s early years shaped by the Partition and her subsequent search for personal and political freedom. In this gripping family memoir, The Lost Homestead, touches on global themes that strongly resonate today: political change, religious extremism, migration, minorities, nationhood, identity and belonging. But above all, it is about coming to terms with the past, and about the stories we choose to tell about ourselves.

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Pav Singh

Author, Pav Singh joins bookclub to present the definitive account based on harrowing victim testimonies and official accounts reveals how the largest mass crime against humanity in India's modern history was perpetrated by politicians and covered up with the help of the police, judiciary and media.

Anam Zakaria

Using the oral narratives of four generations of people - mainly Pakistanis but also some Indians - attempts to understand how the perception of Partition and the 'other' has evolved over the years.

Dr Shashi Tharoor

Former UN under-Secretary General and politician, Dr Shashi Tharoor discusses his international bestseller ‘The Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India. Shashi is In conversation with BBC journalist and broadcaster Kavita Puri,

Dr Radha Kapuria

How both music and dance played a vital role in state craft and deeply influenced the Indo-European diplomatic relationship even though it is often overlooked by historians. From performances of the legendary corps of ‘Amazons’ acting as “gifts” to European visitors, to striking a coin in Moran’s name, music and dance played an intrinsic role in the Court.

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