‘Huma Qureshi’s beautifully written prose, filled with heart-breaking details, illuminates the journey of a generation’ ― The Guardian
Recipient of The Society of Authors’ John C Laurence Award, 2014
In Spite of Oceans, Migrant Voices
In Spite of Oceans: Migrant Voices explores the individual journeys of generations in transition from the South Asian subcontinent to England.
Poignantly written, and based on real events and interviews, what emerges is the story of lives between cultures, of families reconciling customs and traditions away from their ancestral roots, and of the tensions this necessarily creates.
We hear from the young bride from Bangladesh, married to a stranger, who comes to England to navigate life with a man she cannot love; from an Indian father who struggles to come to terms with his son s mental illness and hides it from people he knows; about how a mother and daughter s relationship was shattered in the clash over the Pakistani traditions her daughter chooses not to follow.
Each narrative describes a journey that is both literal and deeply emotional, exploring the hold an inherited culture can have on the decisions and choices we make. At times heart-breaking, at times inspirational, In Spite of Oceans brings to life the pull of the past and the push of the future, and the evolving nature of what we understand as home.
Reviews
Huma Qureshi’s beautifully written prose, filled with heart-breaking details, illuminates the journey of a generation. --Homa Khaleeli, The Guardian
A book that brings alive the stories of those whose hard work and determination made it possible for younger generations of British Asians to flourish. --Mishal Husain, BBC
In Spite of Oceans will both break and lift your heart. Its subjects have struggled through personal hardships to emerge with strength, perfectly captured in Huma Qureshi s sensitive writing. With charm and humanity, this book melts away the torment and grief of living between two cultures and leaves a warm understanding of the immigrant experience. --Adrienne Loftus Parkins, The Asian Word
Grief is insightfully tackled in a book filled with absent presences. Indeed, it’s an inability to communicate, along with a craving for conversation, that is most poignant throughout, in stories filled with silences. This is a collection that peers into the cracks in lives, and imagery of breakage abounds - The Observer