Beyond Beliefs
Regular price
€19.99
'Beyond Beliefs' is a compelling and extraordinary true story spanning The First World War, The Great Depression, The Partition of India and The Holocaust.
This epic memoir recounts the story of Sohail Husain's parents and grandparents, whose lives were engulfed by momentous events of the 20th century. His parents, Karola and Afzal, were separated by birthplace, race, faith, language and age, but their common experience of unimaginable upheaval and loss ultimately brought them together. Their love story was complicated and unconventional, but enduring. 'Beyond Beliefs' is a testament to human spirit overcoming tragedy and adversity.
Sohail's evocative prose delivers a deeply personal insight into his family's journey that spans continents and cultures. It exposes the horrific consequences of war and violent extremism, and the struggles faced by immigrants and refugees, still very relevant today. In places distressing, frequently emotive and sometimes amusing, this powerful thought-provoking homage reveals amazing discoveries, astonishing coincidences and history repeating itself.
Sohail Husain was born in 1951 to mixed-race parents - one a German Jewish refugee, the other an Indian Muslim immigrant - who scraped a living working London's famous street markets. His childhood experience of growing up in a multicultural home in straitened circumstances had a huge influence on his outlook on life. After leaving school, he studied geography at the University of Nottingham and was awarded a PhD in 1976. Subsequently, he enjoyed a varied career that included 13 years as a university lecturer, 15 years with an NGO dedicated to creating safer communities and 12 years as an adviser to the UN on programmes to prevent violence against women and girls. Following retirement, and using his skills as a social scientist, he embarked on research into his family's history that led to many amazing discoveries and ultimately to the publication of his memoir, 'Beyond Beliefs'. Sohail has two daughters and five grandchildren, and has lived with his wife, Caroline, in south Hampshire (UK) for more than 45 years.