First published 2024
Twelve-year-old Amil stands in his family's Bombay apartment as 1948 begins. India has gained independence from Britain, but home feels like a word without meaning. Both Muslim and Hindu, Amil carries memories of the hard journey from what became Pakistan. His family has shelter and he attends school, yet everything seems temporary and fragile. His twin sister Nisha encourages him to draw his experiences as letters to their mother, who died when they were infants. Through his art, Amil tries to understand the chaos around him and within him. He searches for stability in a world that has been torn apart and rebuilt. The drawings become his way of processing loss, displacement, and the possibility that he might create something new from the pieces of his fractured world.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, search-for-identity
Setting: Bombay, India, Pakistan
Period: 1948
Paperback · PENYU