Review by Booklist Review
Divakaruni's (The Last Queen, 2021) latest brilliant novel coincides with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the independence of India from British rule and its partition into India, Pakistan, and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). With great attention to detail regarding the political and religious upheaval this caused and its impact on ordinary citizens, Divakaruni tells a highly nuanced tale of a Hindu Bengali family living in the village of Ranipur near Calcutta. The oldest child, Deepa, is as dutiful and responsible as she is beautiful, and she is determined to be an asset to her family through marriage. Priya, the middle sister, is the firebrand, independent and idealistic, on a mission, against societal odds, to become a doctor like their father. Jamini, the youngest, is deeply religious like their mother and jealous of her more accomplished sisters. The innocence and safety of these sisters in their cocooned village where Hindus and Muslims are enmeshed in each others' lives are shattered in the turmoil, and the sisters are torn asunder. Deepa follows her husband to Bangladesh. Priya's dream leads her to America to study medicine, while Jamini is the glue that holds their mother's life together. Woven throughout their stories is the violence, rage, and anguish of a divided nation, all stirringly depicted by Divakaruni in unforgettable prose.
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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Divakaruni (The Last Queen) captures the upheaval and devastation of the partition of British India in this dazzling tale of three Hindu sisters caught up in the violent events. In 1947, Deepa, Priya, and Jamini Ganguly live with their father, Baba, and mother, Bina. Their once-peaceful Bengal village of Ranipur becomes a site of violence between Hindus and Muslims as independence looms. After Baba dies in the carnage, Bina takes to her bed, unable to work. Deepa, whose beauty is expected to bring a prestigious marriage, falls in love with Raza, a Muslim leader, and Bina banishes her as a result. Priya, who dreams of becoming a doctor, believes her fiancé, Amit, will wait for her to finish medical school, but he breaks their engagement. Amit, who still loves Priya, marries Jamini, the result of a misunderstood deathbed promise from Baba to Amit. Deepa's situation becomes dire when Raza dies in the sectarian violence; in a hair-raising rescue into the new Pakistan, where Deepa has concealed her Hindu identity, family and friends save her from an army captain who's trying to force her into marriage. Divakaruni seamlessly weaves the political upheaval into the characters' lives, including the nation's bereavement after Gandhi's assassination and Priya's meeting with the female resistance leader Sarojini Naidu, while also depicting the beauty, vitality, and vastness of India. This is a must. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In the New York Times best-selling Benedict's The Mitford Affair, Nancy Mitford must choose between family and country when she realizes to her shock that two of her sisters support the Nazis' rise to power. Billed as an historical thriller (with the accent on historical), the Edgar Award--winning Blauner's Picture in the Sand tells the story of Egyptian American businessman Ali Hassan, who shares his secret activist past with a grandson now in Syria as a holy warrior, hoping to dissuade him from extremist actions (75,000-copy first printing). By the author of the internationally best-selling The German Girl, Correa's The Night Travelers moves from Ally Keller's struggles to get biracial daughter Lilith out of 1930s Berlin to Lilith's experiences during the Cuban revolution to Nadine's work in late 1980s Berlin to honor the remains of victims of the Nazis even as daughter Luna encourages her to investigate her own past. American Book Award--winning, Orange Prize short-listed Divakaruni's Independence tracks the fate of three Indian sisters--ambitious Priya, gorgeous Deepa, and devout Jamina--who are torn apart as the 1947 Partition looms (50,000-copy first printing). Saab's Daughters of Victory, successor to her well-received debut, The Last Checkmate, follows Svetlana Petrova from revolutionary idealism in 1917 Russia to disillusionment with Bolshevism to concern for a granddaughter aching to join the resistance as Germans invade the Soviet Union in 1941 (100,000-copy paperback and 30,000-copy hardcover first printing). A debut from Black Canadian Thomas, In the Upper Country opens in 1800s Dunmore, Canada, terminus of the Underground Railroad, where imbued Black journalist Lensinda Martin urges a new arrival who's just killed a slave hunter to give testimony before her arrest; instead, she proposes that they trade stories, with the resulting narrative a braided-together history of Black and Indigenous peoples in North America.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The members of a Hindu family torn apart during the chaos of Partition in India try to rebuild their lives and community in this deeply felt novel. Nabakumar, a Bengali village doctor, and Bina, his quiltmaker wife, are looking forward to India's independence from British rule and the possibilities they hope it will bring for their three daughters: Deepa, Jamini, and Priya, whether in terms of marriages or educational pursuits. Instead, despite his optimism for the future, Nabakumar is killed during a riot that follows a Muslim political party meeting outside of his medical clinic in Calcutta, a loss which upends the family and renders them even more dependent on their neighbors. In the aftermath, mother and daughters struggle to earn money and to ensure their own safety. Deepa must hide her relationship with a Muslim man and is disowned by her mother when it is discovered. Their secret cross-religion marriage becomes even more dangerous as her husband becomes politically powerful in the Muslim League, and the two must relocate to the newly created Pakistan. Priya is at a loss for how to follow in her father's footsteps to become a doctor, especially after she is denied entry to a local college due to ongoing discrimination against women. When she is accepted into medical school in the United States after an offer to finance her education, the decision of whether to pursue her dreams strains her relationship with Amit, a longtime family friend and her fiance, whom Jamini is also in love with. As the threats mount, the sisters are forced to rely on each other once again in a culminating rush of events. The author's latest novel is an engaging family saga that explores resilience against a backdrop of violent national upheaval. The story is well paced as it follows its cast of characters through a chaotic world while still capturing the rich interiority of each of the three daughters. A moving depiction of family life following great loss. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
