Map And The Scissors

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'You cannot force two nations to live together any more than you can force two people' he says quietly.

Fatima smiles feeling a slight thrill of victory. 'Divorce.'

'Pakistan.'

Two intense inflexible personalities duel over a question that will decide the fate of millions: one nation-or two?

Jinnah the consummate ruthlessly analytical gentleman in a tailored suit starts out sceptical of those who come to his door proposing a 'Land of the Pure' but ends up founding exactly such a country. Gandhi the religious visionary in homespun khadi experiments with Truth in his quest for one India-only to witness in anguish the bloody birth of two nations.

The Map and the Scissors is a novel about the epic origin story of modern South Asia brought to life by two London-educated lawyers mirror-image rivals who dreamt the same dream of freedom-in catastrophically incompatible ways.