Fatima Bhutto on Grief, Survival, and the Life-Affirming Love of Canine Companions
Intelligence Squared
Intelligence Squared
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Serenti. |
| 0:05.3 | Fatima Buto was born into the world of high politics in Pakistan. She was just 14 when |
| 0:10.8 | she witnessed the assassination of her politician father outside of their home and was forced |
| 0:15.3 | to flee the country. On today's episode, Fatma joins host Mitha Li Rao to discuss how behind the public and political fallout of this story, |
| 0:23.9 | she was battling anxiety, depression, and the entrapment of a dangerously coercive relationship with an older man. |
| 0:30.0 | Drawing on her new memoir, The Hour of the Wolf, she also sheds light on how her relationship with her loyal Jack Russell Coco helped her begin to heal. |
| 0:38.6 | Let's join our host, Mitha Lee Rao, now with more. |
| 0:42.3 | Welcome to Intelligence Squared. I'm Mitha Lee Rao. Our guest today is Fatima Bhutto. |
| 0:47.1 | Fatima Bhutto is the author of the novels The Runaways and the Shadow of the Crescent Moon, |
| 0:51.5 | which was long listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction. |
| 0:58.7 | Her nonfiction books include New Kings of the World and Songs of Blood and Sword, |
| 1:03.9 | which deals with her father's murder and the Budo family's history in Pakistani politics. |
| 1:09.0 | Her journalism and essays have appeared in The New Statesman, The New York Times, and The Guardian. |
| 1:14.6 | Today I'm delighted to be speaking with Fatima about her new memoir, The Hour of the Wolf. |
| 1:20.8 | It's a memoir of grief, heartbreak, and the love of a ferociously loyal Jack Russell. |
| 1:23.3 | Welcome to Intelligence Square in Fatima. |
| 1:25.0 | Thank you for having me. |
| 1:29.7 | Fatima, this book is about many things, above all. |
| 1:31.8 | It's about a man and about a dog. |
| 1:37.1 | But to start with, it began as a book just about a dog, didn't it? |
| 1:41.6 | Can you tell me a little bit about Coco, how she entered your life and what she's like? |
| 1:49.9 | Coco is a 11-year-old Jack Russell, and I had promised my youngest brother a dog. |
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