ONE OF THE OBSERVER'S 'TEN DEBUT NOVELISTS' OF 2021
'Powerful and heartbreaking... The book's primary and unflinching focus is the female members of the household, all drawn with such skill and love that they remain with you long after the final sentence'
Observer
'Takes us right into the heart and heat of Partition-era Delhi. A rare delight'
Anna Hope
'A powerful and moving family story: every character springs from the page'
Clare Chambers
Delhi, 1946.
Ma and Bappu are liberal intellectuals teaching at the local university. Their fourteen year-old daughter - precocious, headstrong Alma - is soon to be married to a young man training to be a doctor: Alma is mostly interested in the wedding shoes and in spinning wild stories about evil spirits for her beloved younger sister Roop.
Times are bad for girls in India. The long-awaited independence from British rule is heralding a new era of hope, but also of anger and distrust: political unrest is brewing, threatening to unravel the rich tapestry of Delhi - a city where different cultures, religions and traditions have co-existed for centuries.
When Partition happens and the British Raj is fractured overnight, the wonderful family we have come to love is violently torn apart, and its members - Ma and Bappu, Alma and Roop - are forced to find new and increasingly desperate ways to survive.
But the resilience of the human spirit is an extraordinary thing...
