ZARINA DIVIDED

During the Partition of 1947, a family uproots their lives in India and moves to the newly created Pakistan.

Zarina’s world revolved around swinging in the backyard with friends, roughhousing with her brothers, and feasting on her mother’s coconut toffee—until Abajan, her father, announces they’re moving to predominantly Muslim Pakistan. When, amid the growing violence, a bloodthirsty mob comes to their door, Abajan decides they must leave that night. During their perilous journey from Poona by train and ship to Karachi, they encounter unrelenting violence and crushing crowds of people fleeing in both directions. In Karachi, they slowly rebuild their lives. But following an accident, a guilt-ridden Zarina is convinced she should leave home. Despite her mother’s reservations, Zarina joins her brothers, who are leaving for boarding school. At St. Denys’, a girls’ school with British teachers in mountainous Murree, she navigates old resentments and makes new friends. Zarina’s perspective as an 11-year-old who’s trying to make sense of overnight changes, religion-based divisions, and the horrors she witnesses are compelling. Unfortunately, the weak pacing and flat portrayals of other characters undermine the dramatic tension. Readers familiar with the setting may notice details that feel jarring. The second half of the book, which recounts the family’s refugee experiences and offers a quaint look at boarding school life, is stronger.

An ambitious attempt to render sweeping changes in the birth of a nation that doesn’t coalesce.