âHistorical fiction that brings its history to bloody, poignant life: rare and notable.â âKirkus Reviews (starred review)
Before India was divided, three teens, each from wildly different backgrounds, cross paths. And then, in one moment, their futures become irrevocably intertwined.
Tariq. Anupreet. Margaret. As different as their Muslim, Sikh, and British names. But in one moment, their futures become entirely dependent on one anotherâs.
While the rest of India anxiously awaits the upcoming partition that will divide the country into two separate religious states, eighteen-year-old Tariq focuses on his own goal: to study at Oxford. But for a Muslim born and raised in India, there is no obvious path to Englandâuntil Tariq is offered a job translating for one of the British cartographers stationed in India, tasked with establishing the new borders.
Margaret, the cartographerâs daughter, has only just arrived in India. But already she has discovered it to be hot, loud, and dull. She canât go anywhere alone for fear of the riots and violence. Eager for a distraction, she finds one in Tariq.
But itâs Anupreet, another member of the staff, who has truly captured Tariqâs eye. Sheâs strikingly beautifulâbut sheâs a Sikh, so not someone Tariq should even be caught looking at. And yet heâs compelled toâŚ
Against the backdrop of the nearly forgotten history of the partition of India, Jennifer Bradbury, as if with strands of silk, weaves together the heart-pounding tale of three teenagers on wildly different paths, on the verge of changing each otherâs lives forever.