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For lovers of Pachinko, The Covenant of Water, The God of Small Things, The Good Muslim, The Inheritance of Loss, White Teeth, A Fine Balance and Cracking India.
You can also request your library to order it.
It's definitely a book club read. I'd be happy to speak to your book club.
It's also adoption-worthy for high school and college level English and South Asian history courses, because it covers World War-II, Partition, and 9/11.
What's it about?
From the publisher:
A marvelous debut novel exploring the fractures caused by the Partition of India, as well as the legacy and contemporary parallels of sectarian violence around the world.
Lahore, British India. 1943. As World War rages, resentment of colonial rule grows, and with it acts of rebellion. Animated by idealistic dreams of an independent India, Chhote Nanu agrees to plant a bomb intended for the British superintendent of police. Some four years later, following a torturous imprisonment, Chhote flees the city as it descends into violence. Carrying the young son of his murdered wife through scenes of unspeakable bloodshed, he encounters his brother, Barre Nanu, the two of them caught between a vanishing past in the new nation of Pakistan and a profoundly uncertain future in India.
Kanpur, India. 2002. Following the death of his grandfather, Barre Nanu, Karan Khatri returns from New York to join his sister in their childhood home, which has been transformed by the embittered Chhote Nanu into a hostel for Hindu pilgrims. When their mother arrives from Delhi, Karan and Ila learn that their fathers were two different men—one Hindu, one Muslim—relationships with both of whom were doomed by familial bias and prejudice, the siblings resolve to reconnect, and to understand the painful twist and turns in the family’s story.
Moving back and forth from the tumultuous years surrounding Partition to the era of renewed global sectarianism following 9/11, this extraordinary historical novel, “Tolstoyan in its scope” (Ha Jin), portrays a family and nations divided by the living legacy of colonialism. Richly evocative, timely, House of Caravans will endure in the ways only the best literature does.
Keywords:
Partition of India; 1947; 9/11; family; Islam; Hinduism; Islamophobia; nationalism; East India Trading Company; Lahore; Kanpur; colonialism; Pakistan; grief; betrayal; death; World War-II
"The very structure of Suneja’s novel shows us that entanglement and transgression are the way out...The circular tragedy Suneja draws in this intricate debut is perhaps not a circle at all, but a spring, ready to burst as soon as we allow ourselves the freedom to love across borders, rooted not in geography but in time."
— Gus O'Connor, Full Stop
"This is a book that you can not miss...if you like the kind of novel that you can swim in and get lost in ... and you wanna follow characters through generations and across time, this is the book for you. One of my favorite novels ever is... A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry...this book reminds me of that book, it's that good."
— Jen Soriano, author of Nervous, Essays on Heritage
"Suneja's novel is full of quiet, imperfect characters making hard choices in dire straits, who are aware of themselves as bigger than, and yet completely mired in, their circumstances [...] As a portrait of a family whose members have been caught up and then ground down by history, House of Caravans is a triumph of realism."
— Diane Josefowicz, West Trade Review
“Intense and evocative, this powerful debut historical saga recounts India’s partition throughout time to explore the profound intergenerational impacts of the event in nuanced and beautiful storytelling.”
—Karla Strand, Ms. Magazine, September Reads for the Rest of Us
"Reminiscent of Zadie Smith's White Teeth... [a] moving evocation of life before, during, and after Partition and the past's immeasurable impact on the present."
—Kirkus Reviews
“Suneja weaves a tale that spans generations, centering on the trauma of the Partition and its rippling effects on a family trying to find its way back to one another. This is a promising debut.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Told with sumptuous language and epic intensity, House of Caravans is a captivating, harrowing historical saga.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Tolstoyan in its scope, House of Caravans is a marvel of a novel. It copes with some major issues of our time, such as the mingling of races, colonization, rebellion, historical violence, migrations, and also love and remembrance. Shilpi Suneja writes with patience, subtlety, and intelligence. She is a genuine artist.”
—Ha Jin, author of Waiting
"House of Caravans is an astonishing debut—the work of a master writer. Through finely wrought details and clever plotting, Shilpi Suneja illustrates how the reverberations of the 1947 Partition are felt across multiple generations. With her deft writing and her penetrating imagination, Suneja gifts us with a beautiful testament to the power of storytelling."
—Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Green Island
"Straddling two critical time periods of great violence and change on a global scale, Suneja’s novel weaves an intimate tale of two brothers—both brimming with regret, prejudice, sweetness and sorrow—as deftly as a spinner with golden thread. I can’t even begin to fully convey the complexities of this book—its richness, its tenderness, its intelligence—all in a story that pulls you into Suneja’s dreamy imagination. This is a novel that will make you marvel, think, and finally, break your heart."
—Michelle Hoover, author of Bottomland
“A tale of kinship, violence, separation, and reunion, House of Caravans is rich and evocative, filled with unforgettable details of India at the end of colonial rule. The Partition is a great subject, and this is marvelous storytelling.”
—Allegra Goodman, author of Sam: A Novel
“From intimate love stories to terrorist plots to the political intrigues of 1940s British India, Shilpi Suneja’s absorbing novel introduces a nuanced, sophisticated, and authentic voice that illustrates the human cost of colonialism and resilience of true love. Simultaneously set in 2002 and in the harrowing years before the violent creation of Muslim Pakistan and Hindu-majority India, House of Caravans recounts the story of four generations of a family whose members refuse to be defined by the limitations of their times, who dare to love and befriend across religious and class divides. This is a gorgeous and enjoyable tale, eschewing binary and easy definitions of identity, home, and family.”
—Rishi Reddi, author of Passage West
“These are characters I won't forget, they burn with vivacity, and the scenes do too. I am happy to be among them...This is a marvelous story and Shilpi's voice livens it up.”
—Fanny Howe, author of Love and I
“Grappling with themes of social justice, immigrant life in the U.S., and the complicated bonds within extended families, Shilpi Suneja's novel reveals a sincere, informed engagement with matters of political history and human dignity.”
—Daphne Kalotay, author of Blue Hours
I'm doing a few events in Boston, New York, and the surrounding areas and I'd be thrilled to see you!
9/21 7:00 pm Harvard Bookstore, in conversation with Rishi Reddi | 1256 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA
10/5 7:00 pm Grub Street & Porter Square Books, in conversation with Daphne Kalotay | 50 Liberty Drive, Suite 500, Boston, MA | Watch a recording of the event.
10/10 6:00 pm Asian American Writers Workshop, in conversation with Rajiv Mohabir | West 27th Street #600, New York, NY
10/12 7:00 pm Craft on Draft - First Pages with authors Julie Carrick Dalton and Nancy Crochiere at Trident Bookstore | 338 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02115
10/25 6:00 pm Beacon Hill Books & Cafe, in conversation with Shubha Sunder | 71 Charles Street, Boston, MA
11/1 12:00 pm Buffalo Street Books, in conversation with Professor Natasha Raheja, Cornell University | 215 North Cayuga St Ithaca, NY 14850
11/2 7:00 pm Light Up the Center at GrubStreet with Porsha Olayiwola, Fabiola Mendez, Zaila Alvez and Fiona Maurissette | 50 Liberty Drive, Suite 500, Boston, MA
11/13 6:00pm Panel on Partition with MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley students
11/17 4:00 pm "Why is Historical Fiction Important?" A talk with primary and middle school children at Cambridge Public Library
