From the barren plains of Central India, living hard-by the railway tracks in her stationmaster grandfather's home, along the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, to an island home in Southern India with her naval officer father, Patricia McGready-Buffardi presents a colourful kaleidoscope of her "mixed-breed" family, before and after The Raj; the turbulence within the Anglo-Indian community; her father's career in the fledgling Indian Navy and his agony over the division of it at Independence; and the division of Anglo-Indian hearts throughout the subcontinent. Moving from port to port with her family, she provides comic relief in the form of an old English Vauxhall, their travels across the vast subcontinent frustrating but wondrous. Spanning four generations of the McGready family her memoir, although intensely personal, is a historical tour de force.

Growing up in India for two decades she jumped the prickly fences of two societies, British and Indian. Like "pish-pash," a mushy but tasty mix of over-cooked rice, lentils and left-overs, popular with Anglo-Indian children across the country, she enjoyed a delicious concoction of both cultures. As a child, her grandfather told stories of his boyhood and his own father's passion for the railways, an intimate portrait of a simple pioneering family. Rich in detail, the memoir is a prism of days lost forever on the subcontinent, since the Anglo-Indian race is fast dwindling-with the inter-marriages of the new generation around the globe. In short, a race that is almost extinct.

About the Author

Born in Nagpur, India, in 1941, Patricia McGready-Buffardi emigrated after two decades of growing up in that country, her life richly enhanced by two cultures-East and West-her family's Anglo-Indian lifestyle a hodge-podge of British and Indian traditions. While working in London in the 1960s she decided, on a whim, to accept another job across the English Channel in Germany, meeting her husband-to-be, Lou Buffardi. She has lived in the United States since 1966. With a Bachelor's Degree in English (Creative Writing), and working as a freelance columnist for the New Orleans Times Picayune (St. Tammany Edition), she finally felt ready to pen her memoir, which begins and ends in India. She and her husband have travelled extensively but now live on the Pacific West Coast in Port Orchard, Washington-about an hour's drive from Seattle.

To order, please make checks out to
Patricia Buffardi
698 Tufts Avenue
Port Orchard, WA 98366
U.S.A.

Cost: US$20, plus postage and handling:
USA add US$2;
Canada add US$5;
Europe add US$6;
India/Malaysia/Far East add US$6;
Australia and N.Z. add US$6

E-mail address: patloubuf@wavecable.com
Phone: 1-360-874-9350

For ease of payment via credit card, check out www.authorhouse.com , click on “Bookstore” and then type Patricia's name in. Hearts Divided in the Raj can be conveniently purchased through that web site at an attractive price. It may also be ordered through Barnes and Noble(member price 10% off retail cost), Borders and Amazon.com.