Fatima Bhutto

In September 1996, fourteen-year-old Fatima Bhutto shielded her baby brother while shots rang out outside the family home in Karachi. This was the evening that her father, Murtaza, was assassinated. It was the latest in a long line of tragedies for one of the world's best-known political dynasties. Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of a family of feudal landlords who became power brokers in the newly created state of Pakistan. It is an epic tale of intrigue and the international political elite, the making of modern Pakistan, and, ultimately, tragedy. It is also a book about a daughter's love for her father and her search to uncover the truth of his life and death.

Fatima Bhutto went to the earthquake-hit areas of Azad Kashmir and NWFP, met with victims and wrote their accounts in a simple way that successfully conveys the courage of children, who despite losing everything did not lose heart, are hopeful and want to do something great in future.

A selection of poems by the 15-year-old daughter of Murtaza Bhutto, who was assassinated during the premiership of his sister, Benazir Bhutto. Although most of the poems were written three years before, they seem almost premonitory, as though Fatima had sensed a tragic transformation in her life.