Description

** LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024 ** SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2024 ** WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR HISTORY **

This is the authoritative history of South Asia in the 20th century.

‘A classic … wonderfully enjoyable’ WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
‘Chatterji writes with infectious relish’ DOMINIC SANDBROOK

Shadows at Noon tells the subcontinent’s story from the British Raj through independence and partition to the forging of the modern nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Unlike other histories of the region which concentrate exclusively on politics, here food, leisure and the household are given as much importance as nationhood, migration, and the state.

Chatterji makes contemporary South Asia – its cultural vibrancy, diversity, social structures and political make-up – accesible to everyone. In so doing this bold, innovative, and personal work rallies against narratives of ‘inherent’ differences between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and reveals the many things its people have in common.

‘The story of South Asia told with verve, wit and brilliance’ ANURADHA ROY, author of All the Lives We Never Lived
‘Truly magnificent’ MIHIR BOSE, journalist and author of The Nine Waves
‘Wonderful’ SIR MARK TULLY, former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi

Publisher Review

With clarity, wit and charm, Joya Chatterji tells the story of the subcontinent’s recent history in a fluent sweeping arc … Wide-angled and hugely ambitious, but also highly personal and pleasingly discursive, [it] is a book she has clearly enjoyed writing and, as a result, it is wonderfully enjoyable to read … A wonderfully original, genre-defying work that is sure to be a classic * William Dalrymple, Observer * Chatterji writes with infectious relish … It’s refreshing to read a history of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh that rises above the usual national and chronological divisions, and that ends on a surprisingly upbeat note * Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times * Supremely readable … Chatterji’s scholarship and enthusiasm shine through. This account of South Asia surprises, moves and illuminates * Rana Mitter, Financial Times * Definitive new 20th-century thematic history of the Indian subcontinent * Financial Times * A provocative, pioneering work of political and social history… [an] invigorating book…nuanced and complex * Times Literary Supplement *