First published 2019
Nisha writes letters to her dead mother as her world splits apart. The twelve-year-old girl is half-Muslim and half-Hindu, caught between two identities when Britain divides India into separate countries in 1947. Violence erupts between religious communities. Hundreds of thousands die crossing the new borders. Papa decides their family must leave what has become Pakistan. Nisha becomes a refugee overnight. She travels first by train, then on foot, searching for safety in the new India. The journey stretches long and grows dangerous. Nisha already lost her mother as a baby. Now she faces losing her homeland too. Through her letters, she struggles to understand where she belongs in a country torn in half. She questions what home means when borders redraw themselves around you. The girl who exists between two religions seeks her place in a divided world.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, coming-of-age, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: India, Pakistan
Period: 1947
313 pages · Paperback · Thorndike Press Large Print
Content warnings: violence