Umi Sinha is the author of Belonging (Myriad Editions, 2015). Set in India and Sussex between 1855 and 1919, it covers the story of three generations of a British colonial family in India. It begins just before the outbreak of The Indian Mutiny (as it’s known in Britain) or The War of Independence (as it’s known in India) when the whole of North India rose in rebellion against British rule, and ends just after the First World War, when around 1.5 million Indians volunteered to fight on the British side. Through the personal stories of the protagonists, the novel explores themes of racism and feminism and examines the effect of colonial oppression on both the oppressors and the oppressed.

Umi Sinha’s second recently completed novel, The Fallen, is set in Italy during the Second World War and tells the stories of escapee from an Indian prisoner of war camp in Italy and the women who give him sanctuary. It explores the effect of war and PTSD on both men and women, and the difficulty each has in understanding the other’s experiences. The novel is currently with literary agents Pearlman & Lacey, represented by Candida Lacey.

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