Andersen Press in the UK has bought the new novel by the British Pakistani writer Hiba Noor Khan which looks at the partition of India. The synopsis of The Line They Drew Though Us reads: “Three miracle babies are born on the same day; they become best friends. But on their 12th birthday, Jahan, Ravi and Lakshmi’s lives change forever. The British announce Indian independence and draw lines of Partition that tear apart the country, and the friends. One of them flees, one of them disappears, and the other is left wondering, could a miracle bring them back together?”
Eloise Wilson, senior commissioning editor, acquired world rights from Megan Carroll at Watson, Little Ltd for publication in spring 2025 as a super-lead middle-grade title.
Wilson said: “Hiba has weaved an astonishing, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of friendship and unity, against the devastating backdrop of the Partition of India.”
Khan said: “This book is a love letter of sorts, to the vast subcontinent that is my motherland. A mother from whom I have felt disconnected from and conflicted about for much of my life. Yet her vibrant colours and rich soils and unheard stories run deeply within me. My hope is that while this story shines a light on a significant and seismic moment from history that is relevant to all of us, that ultimately, through Jahan, Ravi and Lakshmi, it has a humanising effect.”
Meanwhile her debut novel Saffiyyha’s War continues to have more relevance now in the light of the Gaza war. The novel tells the story of a Muslim girl who lives in the Grand Mosque of Paris and finds herself at the heart of a resistance movement as the mosque becomes a sanctuary for Jews in the city after the outbreak of the Second World War.
The novel is dedicated to Sidi Abdel-Qadir Benghabrit, a former rector at the mosque, who is estimated to have helped protect more than 1,000 Jewish adults and children.
Before becoming a full-time writer, Khan completed an undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Manchester, worked in refugee advocacy for The Children’s Society and was a secondary school physics teacher in Lancashire.
