Book Review of 'The Night Diary' by Veera Hiranandani

Premise:

It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.

Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together.

Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity...and for a hopeful future.

Bittersweet and Impactful

Year 1947: India has been freed from Britain’s rule, and has been split into two countries; Pakistan for the Muslims and India for the Hindus. Nisha’s mother, who died giving birth to them, was a Muslim, while her father is a Hindu, and the twelve-year-old doesn’t know where she belongs. 

Following the Partition of India, it isn’t safe for Nisha and her Hindu family to stay in what is now Pakistan. So Nisha, her twin brother, her father, and her grandmother become refugees who have to leave what is now Pakistan, and travel to the new India to find a new home. 

This book is an epistolary novel (meaning, in the form of letters), that Nisha writes in her diary every night, each one addressed to her late mother. She is confused about the upheaval of her country, and explores weighty themes constantly. 

“[Papa] says that when you separate people into groups, they start to believe that one group is better than another. I think about Papa’s medical books and how we all have the same blood, and organs, and bones inside us, no matter what religion we’re supposed to be.”
“So a Hindu family kills a Muslim family, who kills a Hindu family, who kills a Muslim family. It would never end unless someone ended it. But who was going to do that?”

The story is moving, but can feel distant due to the format. This book is for grades 6-9 and is plot-driven. There are no chapters obviously, since it is written through letters. The themes could be identity or prejudices. On a scale of one through five, I would rate this book 5 stars. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

- Candria

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