[6][4] Her mother, Jahanara Habibullah (1915–2003) is the author of a memoir, first published as an English translation and later, in the original Urdu as Zindagi ki Yadein: Riyasat Rampur ka Nawabi Daur[7][4][8] Shamsie grew up in a home where books and the written word were a part of family life.
[9] Shamsie's grandmother in Lucknow, feminist and activist, Begum Inam Fatima Habibullah was the author of a travelogue Tassiraat-e-Safar-Europe.
The travelogue is about her journey to Britain in 1924 with her husband, Sheikh Mohammed Habibullah, OBE, a Taluqdar of Oudh, and their visit with their sons at Clifton College.
Naipaul, Khushwant Singh, Ahmed Ali, Mumtaz Shahnawaz, Zulfikar Ghose — and of course Attia Hosain — were among the early post-independence writers she read.
[1] As a freelance journalist, however, she has also written on a wide range of subjects, including archaeology, art, architecture, development, environment and women's issues.