In Spite of Oceans

Migrant Voices

By Huma Qureshi

2014

First Published

4.21

Average Rating

193

Number of Pages

5H53M

Audio Length

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.

Avg Rating

4.21

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

44%

4 STARS

41%

3 STARS

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Huma Qureshi

Author · 6 books

I started my career on The Observer and The Guardian and worked as a reporter and features writer across consumer news, news and the life and style sections before going freelance to write my first book, In Spite of Oceans, published in 2014 by The History Press. In Spite of Oceans received the John C. Laurence Award from The Authors’ Foundation. In 2021, I saw two books published: How We Met: A Memoir of Love and Other Misadventures (January, 2021), with Elliott & Thompson, and my debut short story collection, Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love (November 2021), with Sceptre. Sceptre will also be publishing my debut novel, which I am currently writing. My essay, By Instinct, appears in The Best Most Awful Job: Twenty Writers Talk Honestly About Motherhood (2019). I am represented by Laurie Robertson at Peters, Fraser + Dunlop.