Zarina Divided by Reem Faruqi

Zarina Divided is a story told in free verse about one family's experience during the Partition in 1947.

Zarina's family are Muslim and her mother, a petite woman, is expecting another baby. Eleven-year-old Zarina lives in Poona, India with her father Abajan, her mother, and her three brothers, Wahab (15), Qadir (13), and Adil (7). Their home  was once Zarina'a great-great-grandfather's.  It is a bungalow with twelve rooms and a wrap-around verandah, as well as a walled garden. Beyond the garden walls are sellers of chai, samosa, sabzi (vegetables) and bananas. Zarina's family have servants: a mali (gardener) named Irfan, a chawkidar (watchman) named Mahesh, Khushboo who is their ayah (nanny) and Basheer who is their khansama (cook). 

Zarina's father and her uncles are always listening to the radio, leaving her wondering what is going on. She hears the names of Quaid-e-Azam, Gandhi-ji, Nehru, and Jinnah Zindabad. Zarina knows there is talk of splitting the land into two countries, Pakistan in the west for Muslims and India in the east for Hindus. Zarina's father is obsessed with the idea of Pakistan, a country just for Muslims and is working for the Muslim League. His friend is Quaid-e-Azam whose real name is Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the force behind the partition.

At school, Zarina and her friends wonder who is leaving and who is staying. But their teacher, Mrs. Nizami

Zarina's aunt, her father's younger sister whom he calls Pyari Jan which means "Loved One", is married in their garden. Abajan invites not only their famiily's hired help, Khushboo, irfan, Basheer and Makesh, but also Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his sister, Fatima Jinnah. Zarina is not happy about this and does offer these two special guests the sherbet as her mother asks. Zarina realizes that if Pakistan is created they will lose their home in Poona. 

As independence from Britain moves closer to reality, and the formation of Pakistan and India also appears to be happening, Mrs. Nizami reminds her students that they are all human regardless of their faith. She gives each student a brand new pencil, something that thrills Zarina.

Zarina is furious when her best friend, Jahana reveals that her family is leaving soon for Pakistan. She tells Zarina that if she stays in Poon, like their friend Geeta, she is Hindu. The next afternoon Jahana comes by to say goodbye as her family is leaving that night.

Things begin to change in Zarina's neighborhood: the normally noisy roads are now quiet with the sellers no longer yelling about goods for sale. Khushboo teaches Zarina how to wash their clothes, how to iron Abajan's handkerchiefs, the kurtas and shalwars, and how to sweep the floor with the jharoo. Geeta is no longer allowed to come visit because she is Hindu and Zarina is Muslim and when she sees Zarina, she throws stones at her. 

In Poona there are riots with people being hurt and dying. Zarina and her brothers are no longer allowed to attend school. Her father decides that they will leave in two weeks for Pakistan, a decision that greatly upsets Zarina, especially when she learns that Khushboo will not be going with them. Khushboo explains to Zarina that she cannot come because she is Hindu and she has to stay with her family who are in Poona.

But when a mob arrives at Zarina's home looking for Muslims to kill, Zarina's father decides the must leave that night. It will be a treacherous, chaotic trip that leads to many changes for Zarina and her family.

Discussion

Although Zarina Divided is a work of historical fiction, it is loosely based on the experiences of the author's maternal grandmother, Zarina. As with the Zarina in the novel, Reem Faruqi's grandmother lived in Poona, India in a house with a large garden. Zarina's father (the author's great-grandfather Ahmed E. H. Jaffer) was a politician, elected to the Central Legislative Assembly in 1934. He was a member of the All India Muslim League that came to press for a separate Muslim country, Pakistan. 

As with the character in the novel, Zarina left India for the new country of Pakistan via a ship, the Shirala. And she did attend boarding school, St. Denys, but only after everyone in the family gave their approval by signing the petition her father drew up. The lone exception was her mother (the author's great-grandmother). And like Zarina in the novel, she thrived at the boarding school.

Zarina Divided manages to portray some of the reality of the Partition of India in 1947 from a Muslim point of view. Zarina's family are Muslim and when the Partition happens they are caught in India, now a country for Hindus only. This means they must travel to what was once western India, to the new state called Pakistan. Likewise, those Hindus living in Pakistan must leave their homes and move east into India. This mass migration according to the Author's Note at the back, "was one of the bloodiest upheavals in human history and was the largest mass migration of the twentieth century. Over the course of a year, an estimated fifteen million people crossed borders that were drawn up in a rush by the British Empire."

The mass migration was rife with violence and bloodshed, nd Zarina's family experienced some of that. Their trip out of Poona, India to Karachi, Pakistan is harrowing for Zarina and her family from the very beginning. The train station is chaotic, the trains packed both within and on top with people. They lose the youngest boy, Adil but Abajan is able to find him and bring him back to the train. Zarina's family barely escape being murdered on the train when a mob looking for Muslims board the train. They are hidden in a bathroom by the station manager. The trip on the Shirala is also challenging but in a different way: sea sickness, and crowded conditions with distressed children and women. 

While the author indicates that there was much killing and violence, she also highlights acts of mercy by Hindus and Muslims. For example, when a Hindu mob comes to their home in Poona, looking to kill Zarina's family, Mahesh, their Hindu watchman saves them by hiding them in the bathroom and telling the mob the family has moved. Adil who became separated from the family at the train station is also saved in what could have been a devastating situation. Abajan tells the family upon his return with Adil, 

"I saw him crying, he says.

A Hindu woman was holding him up,

asking people who he belonged to.

If it wasn't for her,

we wouldn't have found him..."

In Karachi, it is Zarina's family's turn to protect someone from harm. The house they have been allotted belongs to Rupi, a Sikh woman who is not happy with this arrangement. However, when a Muslim mob arrives, Zarina's parents hide the lady in the bathroom and turn away the mob. Rupi is grateful but nevertheless decides to leave her home. Abajan gives her the address of their old house in Poona, recognizing the injustice that's been done to her and hoping in some small way to address that.

Zarina and her family seem more fortunate than many people were during the partition. Zarina is eventually sent to a private school. This request is not without intense inner conflict for Zarina, She is Zarina divided: she desires to be a good daughter but she also wants a good education. All her family members sign the petition to allow her to attend a private school, except Zarina's mother. This creates tension between mother and daughter. Zarina feels that she has hurt her mother by leaving for school. However, both her older brother Wahab and Khushboo explain that she has done nothing wrong but that her mother is not well. Eventually Zarina and her mother reconcile with her mother telling Zarina how proud she is of her determination to learn and get an education. 

Life at the private school, St. Denys, also provides challenges for Zarina and opportunities for personal growth too. The school has a small group of students made up of Muslims and those British who have stayed behind after the Partition. Zarina befriends a British girl, Daphne Drinkwater. However one of the Muslim students, Sidra, is openly prejudiced towards the British girls. She tells Zarina that she needs to "stick to your kind of people", that is people who are brown or Muslim. Sidra talks only to the classmates who are like her, while treating the white students as though they are enemies. Finally, Zarina confronts Sidra,

"You're not better than anyone else.

You need to give people a chance

whether they look like you

or not,

whether they act like you

or not.

We are all the same kind of people,

HUMAN"

Although Zarina's words are harsh, she is happy that she didn't physically push Sidra as she might have done when she lived in Poona. Zarina remembers her bad temper and is trying to overcome it. So when she sees the sadness in Sidra, walking alone a few days later, Zarina wants to be kind. She loops Sidra arm-in-arm with herself and Daphne and notices the small smile on Sidra's face. 

Zarina also begins to assert herself when it comes to the practice of her faith. She makes the decision to fast for Ramadan. When she and her Muslim friends decide to eat Sehri and are caught, Zarina explains to the matron why this is important to them and allowances are made.

The novel ends on a happy note, with Zarina returning home for the winter holidays, reuniting with her family but also her best friend, Jahana who is interested in the attending the private school. While the novel does offer some information on the effects of the partition of India into two countries it is also about a young girl's journey towards womanhood and independence. Zarina Divided does offer readers a map of Zarina's journey from Poona to Karachi to Muree.

Book Details:

Zarina Divided by Reem Faruqi
New York: Harper Collins Children's Books     2025

325 pp.

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

The Night Diary is a fictional account of one family's experience during the partition of India into two countries in 1947. The story is told in the form of diary entries written by the main character, Nisha beginning on her twelfth birthday, addressed to her deceased mother. 

Nisha receives the diary as birthday gift from Kazi, the family's Muslim servant. "The diary is covered in purple and red silk, decorated with small sequins and bits of mirrored glass sewn in. The paper is rough, thick, and the color of butter..." He tells Nisha "someone needs to make a record of the things that will happen because the grown-ups will be too busy." 

Nisha decides to address each entry to her mother Faria who died giving birth to Nisha and her twin brother Amil. For his birthday, Amil receives a beautiful book, a collection of tales from the Mahabharata, an ancient Hindu epic poem. The book contains beautiful coloured pictures, which Nisha knows Amil will love as he loves to draw but struggles to read.

Nisha and Amil live with their papa who is the head doctor at Mirpur Khas City Hospital, and Dadi, their grandmother in a large compound provided by the government. The compound consists of their home which is a large bungalow, cottages where Kazi Syed and their grounds keeper Mahit live, a vegetable garden and a chicken coop. Nisha and her brother both attend segregated government schools for boys and girls.

The first hint of change happens on July 18 when three men come to the house while Papa is at work and speak to Dadi. She orders Nisha and Amil into the kitchen with Kazi. Dadi won't tell them what they wanted but Amil tells his sister that he overheard the men asking Dadi when they would be leaving. The next day, July 19 Nisha and Amil are followed by two boys as they walk to school. Although this occasionally happens, this time the boys throw rocks at them. Nisha blames Amil who often taunts them and then runs away. But Amil tells her "It's because we're Hindus...There are lots of places all over India where the Hindus and Sikhs and Muslims fight one another all the time now...That's why those men came to the house yesterday. They said the Hindus should leave and they don't want Kazi to live with us."  

As tensions escalate, there is a fight between a Muslim and a Hindu boy at school and Amil is chased again after school. Papa decides that neither Nisha nor Amil will go to school. He explains that India will gain its independence from Britain but will be partitioned into two states. Their town of Mirpur Khas won't be in India but will now be a part of a new country called Pakistan. Although Gandhi wants everyone to live in peace, Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League wants a Muslim state while Nehru, leader of the Indian National Congress wants to be prime minister of India.

Life at home leaves Nisha bored and missing school which she did well at. Then on August 2, a group of people break down the door of their home, ransacking and breaking furniture and pots while Nisha, Amil and Dadi hide in terror in the pantry. After they leave, Kazi comes to get them, his head bleeding profusely from a cut. Shortly after this Papa decides it is time for them to leave Mirpur Khas as it is no longer safe for them to stay. He decides to hold a party and invites family and friends. Their neighbours, uncles, aunties, cousins and Dr. Ahmed and his family attend the party.

After the party, Nisha realizes that she will have her memories of life in Mirpur Khas and new memories of life in the new India. "My childhood would always have a line drawn through it, the before and the after." Nisha, Amil and their father undertake a journey across India that will change them forever and in ways they cannot anticipate.

Discussion

Veera Hiranandani's The Night Diary is loosely based on the experiences of her father's family during the Partition. Hiranandani's father, grandparents, aunts and uncles had to cross the border from Mirpur Khas to Jodhpur in a journey similar to that undertaken by Nisha and her family.  Although they safely crossed the border, at least one million people died in this mass migration that saw tensions between Muslims and Hindus escalate into violence.

Hiranandani's novel presents a balanced portrayal of the relationship between Muslims and Hindus in pre-partitioned India.  As would be expected, the families of Nisha's Hindu father and Muslim mother had mixed reactions to their marriage years earlier: her father's family was against the marriage, puzzled by his lack of interest in the Hindu girls, while Nisha's mother's sister was so against the marriage that she never spoke to her again. However her mother's brother seemed supportive. Because of Nisha's mixed background she and her family are open to friendships with both Hindu and Muslim people: her father's best friend is Dr. Ahmed, a Muslim, while Nisha's best friend is Sabeen, a Muslim student. Their cook, Kazi is also Muslim and considered a member of the family.

When Nisha and her family become targets of violence she struggles to understand. Because of their mixed heritage, Nisha and Amil don't know who attacked their home and are left confused. "...And anyway I thought the two sides were supposed to be us and the British. Why are we fighting each other?" Nisha wants to "go somewhere fresh and new where people were happy..." and where "nobody would mind that you were Muslim and Papa was Hindu and Amil and I could hold both sides of our parents in our hearts." In trying to understand why people are fighting each other, Nisha asks, "Is it the brain that makes people love and hate? Or is it the heart?"

Nisha's father tells her that everyone is to blame. "...when you separate people into groups, they start to believe that one group is better than another." But Nisha recognizes "...we all have the same blood, and organs, and bones inside us, no matter what religion we're supposed to be."

The journey to the border is filled with hardships and terrifying experiences that change how Nisha views the world and push her to ask many questions. When they run out of water, Nisha thinks about Badal, the water man who brought water to their home daily. "I never thought about how heavy it must have been and how lucky we were to have someone bring it to us every day. A wave of shame rippled through the center of my body..." As their situation grows dire and they are unable to continue, Nisha begins to think about death. "...I've thought about other people dying, but I've never thought about me not actually being here anymore."

Suffering from dehydration and unable to continue their journey, Nisha tells Dadi she loves her, making her realize that although they "never said those words to one another..." they "did things that meant love." Nisha realises that love existed in their home in the form of service to one another. "Now I could see it. Dadi washing and mending my clothes. Papa kissing us on our foreheads before bedtime, Amil making a drawing of me. Kazi making my favorite paratha stuffed with fried onions and potatoes. Every day had been filled with things like this. All love, even between Papa and Amil." Facing certain death from lack of water, when Papa returns with the much needed water, his sacrifice and comforting of them convinces Nisha that her father loves them. "I knew I would remember this forever, pack it away in my mind."

After Nisha is attacked outside Rashid Uncle's home by a Muslim man who has seen his entire family murdered, she wonders, "Why had his family been killed? Why would anyone do that? Do people who kill start out like me, or are they a different kind of human?" The attack leaves Nisha unable to comprehend the violence. "I know lots of people have died walking and on the trains in both directions. The riots and killings keep happening. I still don't understand. We were all part of the same country last month, all these different people and religions living together. Now we are supposed to separate and hate one another. Does Papa secretly hate Rashid Uncle? Does Rashid Uncle secretly hate us? Where do Amil and I fit in to all of this hate? Can you hate half of a person?" Nisha is referring to the fact that she and Amil are from Muslim and Hindu parents, leading her to wonder how people will view them.

When they finally push their way onto a train to cross the border, Nisha watches as Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs fight one another in a bloody, deadly battle. "I looked at the dying men on the ground. For what? I did not know. More revenge? I shook all over. I had never seen anyone kill before. It has changed me. I used to think people were mostly good, but now I wonder if anyone could be a murderer..."

Hiranandani has populated her novel with realistic characters and has done an excellent job recreating the historical setting for the novel, demonstrating, not surprisingly she knows her subject well.

The Night Diary doesn't really explore the root of the tensions between Muslims and Hindus in British India but it does show that the partition of the country into two separate republics was a violent event. This event viewed through the eyes of young Nisha shows how senseless the violence was, in what should have been a very proud moment in the history of the country - freedom from almost three hundred years of British rule. Today tensions continue to exist between Muslims and Hindus both within India and Pakistan and also between the two countries who are arch enemies. Neither nation has fared well since the Partition; India continues to have serious social issues including poverty, an inability to eradicate the caste system and serious women's rights issues, while Pakistan struggles with government corruption and encroaching Islamic fundamentalism.

Hiranandani includes a short Author's Note that provides some background information about her family's experiences and about the Partition. Readers may find the following websites helpful:

Stanford University's 19947 Partition of India & Pakistan: https://exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition/about/1947-partition-of-india-pakistan

The British National Archives also have much information as does the BBC website (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05b5fdg ).

Overall The Night Diary is an excellent, well-written novel for younger readers about an important event in the 20th century.

Book Details:

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
New York: Dial Books For Young Readers    2018
264 pp.

White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages

White Sands, Red Menace picks up the story of Dewey Kerrigan and Suze Gordon, post-World War II.The novel covers the span of approximately one year from May 12, 1946 to May 15, 1947.

It is May 12, 1946 and the United States has won the war in the Pacific, dropping two atomic bombs, which Dewey and Suze's parents helped to build, on cities in Japan. Casualties were in the hundreds of thousands and the public, including the scientists remain divided over the use of nuclear technology. 

Dewey continues to live with the Gordons who are now located in Alamogordo, New Mexico, a hour from the Mexican border and only sixty miles from the Trinity test site. The novel opens with Dewey and the Gordons driving to the White Sands Proving Grounds, a flat expanse of arid desert where the US government is testing the launch of the first American rocket launched into outer space.

The American army captured three hundred boxcars full of V-2 rocket parts along with the instructions, all written in German. The German scientists who were working on the rocket, including Wernher von Braun, have been brought over to America to help the country build its own rockets. Dr. Gordon tells Dewey and Suze that this is the first rocket to travel straight up into the outer atmosphere. The launch is successful.

Meanwhile Dewey and Suze continue to develop their areas of interest: Dewey with building various machines and Suze with her art creations. In their shared bedroom, the two girls work on creating a wall of artwork and mechanical pieces that they name "the Wall".  In July, Dewey receives a cheque for three thousand dollars from her grandmother, Nana Gallucci's estate, plus her jewelry and her Nana's clothing. She also finds a picture of her grandparents and her father Jimmy Kerrigan and mother, Rita Gallucci Kerrigan when they much younger.

Suze's father continues to be very involved in the development of a rocket, while her mother works from home to stop further development of nuclear weapons. A chemist, her efforts are no longer needed by the military and she desperately wants to resume her career at Berkley. Longing for a connection to her mother, it is Suze's father who takes her to the desert to see the beautiful sunset and the stars. He tells her that he's going to be out at the base again for some time, involved in launch tests.

Over the course of the next year, Suze and Dewey make new friends. In August, Suze meets a girl, Ynez Esquero, from the southern part of Alamogordo which is primarily Mexican. This part of town is known as "Little Chihuahua" and the Hispanics are not allowed to live north of Tenth. Ynez is selling tamales which Suze discovers she really likes. Suze visits Ynez's home and learns that she wants to live in Hollywood some day. Ynez's mother, Dona Luisa, teaches Suze how to make tamales.

The school year starts and Dewey who is now attending Alamogordo High, is forced to take Home Economics and to repeat Algebra instead of being allowed to enroll in the grade nine trigonometry class. Dewey and Suze are in English, Social Science and Home Ec together. When a film is to be shown in Home Ec class, a boy named Owen Parker brings in the projector but has trouble getting things running. Dewey unobtrusively helps him and later on Owen helps her by taking her to his father's repair shop to teach her how to solder. Through the school year Dewey and Suze build new friendships while their own relationship becomes more secure. And as each face startling new situations to deal with, the true meaning of family is discovered.

Discussion

White Sands, Red Menace is a fitting conclusion to the story of Dewey and Suze and the beginning of the atomic age. Once again Klages does an excellent job recreating the setting for her novel - this time, life in postwar America, late 1940's.

The social and political fallout from the development of the atom bomb is shown throughout the novel. Sometimes the consequences are personal for Dewey and Suze, other times they are more indirect. For example, Suze comes home one day to find her mother grieving over the death of a colleague, Lou Slotin who died from radiation sickness as a result of a plutonium accident.  Terry Gordon reveals to her daughter Suze that only the first hundred thousand casualties in Hiroshima where due to the actual bomb explosion. The rest died from radiation sickness like Slotin, which horrifies Suze. In Social Science class Suze confronts Mrs. McDonald telling her the government won't let the newspapers print the truth about Japan "because it might scare people and turn them against 'our new friend, the atom.' " When she tells the class what is really happening she is sent to the principal's office.

Klage uses a conversation between Dewey and Suze to hint at the hypocrisy of the American government in executing the remaining Nazi's at Nuremberg while not executing scientists like von Braun whose rockets killed thousands in Britain. Suze tells her, "My dad says it doesn't matter, 'cause we need 'em to teach our army how to work the controls and stuff." When the Gordons have one of von Braun's crew, Rudy Mueller and his son Kurt over for Thanksgiving, Kurt tells Suze, Dewey and Owen how the Germans were able to use many "workers" to make so many rockets at Nordhausen.  Suze realizes that Kurt is referring to the Nordhausen concentration work camp, where the U.S. troops discovered the bodies of 3,000 slave laborers and where 20,000 slaves died making rocket parts. Suze realizes that if she knows, likely her dad and the other government scientists know too.

There's plenty of cultural references throughout the novel. For example, Dewey and Suze go to the theatre to see Tarzan and the Leopard Woman which starred Johnny Weissmuller and Brenda Joyce. The theatre also shows Spider Woman Strikes Back and the previews show the atomic bomb test at the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific and Chapter Nine of Captain Midnight. In 1946 New Mexico, Black children are not allowed to attend Alamogordo High and could only attend school up to Grade Eight. Obviously this will affect the types of employment available to Black men and women. When Owen comes to visit Dewey he tells her about seeing a television in El Paso, Texas. In 1946, a ten inch television cost four hundred dollars. At this time there was no television station in El Paso but one in Los Angeles. He's certain that soon televisions will soon be sold.

The years immediately following the atomic bombing of Japan saw many products in the US marketed as "atomic" suggesting they had special abilities. Suze had expected her parents and the other scientists would be heroes for ending the war in the Pacific through the use of the atom bomb. However, when the world saw the damage done by the bombs, there were no celebrations, but America could not admit this. It would be unpatriotic. So Suze believes that instead American businesses try to minimize the harm of atomic technology by marketing it as beneficial to society.  "Songs, ads, comic -- everything was 'atomic' now, like just using the word would make stuff special? Atomic-like action! Who in their right mind wanted a cleanser that worked like the Bomb? It would blow up your sink, your kitchen, turn your whole neighborhood into ashes and rubble and radiation. Some way to clean."

Readers will get a good sense of the social norms of the post war era in which women had to conform to certain expectations. During the war, women worked in factories while men were overseas fighting but with the end of the war, society returns to the traditional roles expected of men and women. Men are to learn mechanical skills like welding and woodworking, while women are expected to learn domestic skills like cooking and hygiene. Klage uses the character of Dewey, who is different from most girls her age, to portray how difficult it was to fight the social norms of the times. Dewey will be in Grade Eight and wants to take shop but is told, "Oh no. Those are boys' classes." Instead, she is forced to enroll in Home Economics. In fact Dewey is not even allowed to go into that part of the school only because she is a girl. She worries that not taking shop will affect her chance of attending MIT for engineering.

Klages portrayal of the relationship between Dewey and Suze is very realistic: life is  not all roses. There is sibling rivalry and the typical teenage angst. The Gordon's have taken in Dewey when her father died. Dewey and Terry Gordon form a bond based on their love of science and the fact that they think in a similar way. This aspect of their relationship causes Suze to feel left out and jealous. Dewey seems to recognize this and tries to help Suze. When the girls have a fight over Dewey going to practice driving with Suze's mother, Suze finally admits to her friend, "I feel like an orphan. Dad's off with his rockets, and Mom's always busy." The fight leads Suze to talk to her mom about how she's feeling and her mother tells her,
 " 'I'm glad. Because I do love Dewey. As much as if she was your real sis--sibling. But that doesn't mean I love you any less. You know that, don't you?
'I guess so.'
'Oh, that was convincing.' She turned in her chair so they sat knee to knee. 'You're my daughter, no matter what. Always will be.
'Even though I don't like science much,' Suze said in a small voice. 'You're not disappointed I'm not more like you?' She paused, 'And Dewey.' "
Suze's mom reassures her of her love and tells Suze that she's more like her mom than she suspects. She shows Suze a picture of her and her friends, how she was tall like Suze at the same age and just as curious.

Dewey herself must also come to terms with the relationship between herself and her mother, who reappears in her life later in the novel. She learns the truth about her parents and why her mother left and she must make the difficult decision about what part her mother will play in her own life. In this regard, Dewey is presented as a very mature fourteen year old who knows what her goals are and who is determined to achieve them. With the help of her best friend Suze, Dewey takes the unusual step of taking control of her own destiny.

There are a few historical facts peppered throughout the novel. For example Louis Slotin was a real historical figure, a Canadian physicist who worked to assemble the nuclear core of the Trinity bomb. Slotin died from a massive dose of neutron radiation when he accidentally caused a critical reaction to occur. The type of testing Slotin was involved in was called criticality testing and was considered very dangerous. Another historical fact is the McMahon Act which placed atomic research in the hands of the scientists removing it from military control.

White Sands, Red Menace is a fascinating read about the period of history just prior to the start of the Cold War. Klages offers a detailed Author's Note at the back which provides some further information and resources on the 1940's, the V-2 Rocket Program and the Atomic Bomb. Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this reading about life in the years immediately following the war.

Book Details:

White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages
New York: Viking Press       2008
337 pp.

Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass

Set in post World War II Germany, Graffiti Knight provides readers with a unique look at life in a divided Germany after the destruction of Hitler's Third Reich. 

Having lost the war, Germany finds itself a country divided into two areas: the American occupied west and the Soviet occupied east. Because of Nazi brutality and the tremendous losses suffered by Soviet troops during the war, every German is assumed to be a Nazi and the Soviets treat them accordingly.

Seventeen-year-old Wilhelm (Wilm) Tauber lives in what remains of the city of Leipzig after extensive Allied bombing during World War II. He shares a bombed out apartment with his mother, father and his twenty-year-old sister, Annelise. Wilm's father was a German soldier who lost his leg during the war. Left for dead by his platoon, American doctors amputated his leg and sent him to POW camp.

Wilm, with his friends Georg Rohrbach and Karl, watches and listens from his hiding place as his father is beaten by four Schutzpolizisten (Schupos). The Schupos are German police who work for the occupying Soviets and are known for their brutality. Wilm and Karl feel as though they live behind enemy lines because of the occupation of part of their country by the Soviets. With the help of his friends, Wilm takes his father home in Frau Nikel's wheelbarrow as he is unable to walk. After a dinner of thin potato soup, Wilm's father sits down to drink and has angry words with his son. That night Wilm sleeps on the rug in Annelise's room because he doesn't want to listen to his father rant about the war and the loss of his leg.

At school Wilm is a poor, unfocused student and his lack of effort is especially noticed in Herr Bader's mathematics class. He asks Wilm why his marks are so poor and suggests he learn what the problem is and fix it. For Wilm school means nothing because it will not alleviate his hunger nor get his family a larger apartment. After school one day, Wilm, Georg and Karl are challenged to a soccer game by a group of Schupos that includes Anneliese's old boyfriend, Ernst Weber. After the game, Johanna Fahr, a childhood friend of Wilm arrives. She has grown into a beautiful girl and Wilm finds her attractive. Johanna tells Wilm she's meeting her boyfriend, Ernst, and this leads Wilm to wonder when Ernst started dating Johanna and the circumstances of his break-up with Anneliese. When Wilm questions Ernst as to why he broke up with his sister, he tells him "I like my women...untouched." Wilm has no idea what Ernst means.

On Saturdays Wilm travels to his Uncle Bruno's farm in Engelsdorf where he works in exchange for food. His mother works as a Trummerfrauen or "rubble women", clearing the rubble created by the Allied bombing of Leipzig in exchange for extra rations. Over a lunch of fried onions, potatoes and sausages, Uncle Bruno tells Wilm to finish his education and that there is no future in small farms like his. During a thunderstorm that evening, Uncle Bruno teaches Wilm how to fire the Luger pistol under the cover of the thunder.

At home things grow worse between Wilm and his angry, drunk father, who refuses the food Wilm brings back from the farm. Wilm retreats to the roof of the house and is soon joined by Anneliese, whom he questions about Ernst. Wilm tells Anneliese that she has changed since she broke up with Ernst. She wears boys clothes and creeps to work at a seamstresses shop. He tells her that Ernst claimed she cheated on him. Anneliese tells her brother about the day she went to the train station to meet Ernst who was returning from a British prisoner-of-war camp. Their mother warned her that it was not safe, but she went anyway. Anneliese tells him that she was raped by four Soviet soldiers and that Ernst saw the attack but did not intervene because he couldn't. When Wilm asks her why, Anneliese states, "Because they were Soviets. They attack whomever they choose. They kill whomever they choose. To interfere is to die. Where have you been these last two years?" 

When Wilm confronts his mother the next day she tells him that this is the way things are now and that they "must bear up under it." and that talking about it changes nothing. "...This is the world we live in now. Understand it. What happened was awful. But do you think Anneliese is the only woman to be attacked since the Soviets arrived? Far from it. the best we can hope is that they don't kill us or our men when they're finished with us."

The next day after scoring ninety-two percent on his mathematics test, Wilm is pressured by Karl to prove his loyalty, considering they are "behind enemy lines" and that he walked past two Schupos without doing anything. Karl tells Wilm he must go to the missing person's registry office to see how many Schupos are present. While Karl and Georg watch, Wilm sneaks up to two military trucks. Calmly Wilm stabs the front and back tires of a truck and then walks towards the Barthelshof archway as the tires explode. When the three boys meet up, Karl tells Wilm what he did was dangerous as the Soviets jail those who resist. Wilm states he's not a "Wolverine" but that "Crazy is playing at being behind enemy lines but never sabotaging the enemy if you get the chance." Karl is furious at Wilm and the two begin to fight. They are pulled apart by an older man who identifies himself as Otto Steinhauer. Otto tells them he works for the SED (the German Socialist Party) as an engineer contracted to inspect bridges. Walking away from Otto, Karl asks Wilm why he vandalized the Soviet military trucks and Wilm tells him it is payback and justice. Karl knows about Soviet justice as his father is languishing in a Soviet prison camp but he's not sure what Wilm is referring to.

The following Monday after school, Wilm seeks out Otto who tells him about how he uses mathematics to repair bridges. Otto also reveals that he knows Wilm was responsible for the damaged Soviet trucks and warns him that the Soviets do not consider what he is doing a "game". Otto gives Wilm his gold engineering band as a token of his trust. When Wilm arrives home the following Sunday after spending the weekend at his uncle's farm, he finds two Schupos at his family's apartment. They have received an anonymous tip that some Schutzpolizei beat his father in the street. After questioning Wilm and later Karl, they leave. On Tuesday, Wilm, Karl, Georg learn that a crowd has gathered at the Bahnhof (train station) where a train full of prisoners of war is returning. However the Soviets will not let any of the men off the train, instead intending to send them east to the Soviet camps. This results in an angry mob confronting the soldiers. Wilm starts trouble by cutting off a metal service bar from Schupo next to him. As he backs away from the fight he also helps a veteran who starts singing the "Deutschland Uber Alles". When Karl learns what Wilm did, he's furious because with his father as a Soviet prisoner of war, he knows how the families in the square felt. But it is his father's situation that motivates Karl to help Wilm in his plan to humiliate their Soviet occupiers.

At first Wilm's acts are simple; bitumen is used to write graffiti on "the light-colored stones of the SED headquarters near Augustusplatz". After an altercation between Ernst, Anneliese and Wilm, which sets Anneliese's recovery back, Wilm becomes determined to wage a "war of embarrassment."  He can't strike at Ernst personally "But every Schupo I embarrass will have his face in my mind." When Otto realizes he cannot talk Wilm out of his "war" he gives him the name of a contact in Munich. His next action is to paint a large white marionette on the side of the Schutzpolizei headquarters, indicating that the German police are the puppets of the Soviets.

Otto tells Wilm that the SED are furious and have increased the number of patrols. The next action is accomplished also with the help of Karl. He places a huge wasp nest inside one of the troop transport trucks. The following Saturday, Karl, Georg and Ruth tell Wilm that the rumour is that the Soviets have seized yet another shipment of butter. Furious at discovering this is true, Wilm with the help of his friends steal some of the butter back from the Soviets in a late night raid that almost sees him get caught.

Although Otto warns him about the dangers of his actions, Wilm becomes more determined than ever. He and Karl leave drawings of Wilm's "stickman puppet and a capital M on the doors of government buildings, including the Schutzpolzei headquarters." When a situation occurs at the theatre during a Soviet propaganda film, and Georg is arrested, Wilm decides to go to the police station to see if he can free Georg. Both Wilm and Karl are terrified that Georg will reveal their actions if he is interrogated by the police. This results in Wilm making a deal with Ernst that he will become a Schupo in exchange for Georg's freedom.

However a series of events are about to be set in motion when Karl shows Wilm his discovery of the rumoured secret cache of weapons at his mother's beer hall, the Stag's Horn. Wilm manages to sneak out a long grenade without Karl's knowledge. And he soon forms a plan to send a "message" to the Soviets during the visit of a Soviet general. Unfortunately, the action goes terribly wrong and as Otto once warned, Wilm's actions have implications that ripple out to many innocent people including his family and friends.

Discussion

In Graffiti Knight, author Karen Bass has crafted a story about resistance set amidst the backdrop of Soviet occupation of the eastern part of Germany following World War II. The main character, Wilm Tauber is struggling with the injustice his family and German citizens are experiencing at the hands of their Soviet occupiers. Although his father, a former Nazi soldier, has been beaten by the Schupos, it is the revelation of his sister Annelise's rape that is the catalyst for his resistance to the Soviets.

When Wilm learns about his sister's rape he is devastated and wants revenge. Feeling powerless he begins to strike out in small ways to embarrass the Soviets and the Schupos. But his mentor, Otto Steinhauer, a structural engineer is concerned for Wilm. During the war Otto passed secrets to the British, so although employed by the SED, he understands Wilms feelings. After hearing about the events at the train station, Otto tells Wilm he fears for him. "You think you are untouchable, yet experience is a cruel teacher." With Otto, Wilm can talk about what has happened to his family; the rape of his sister, his troubles with Ernst and his father. Otto tries to talk Wilm out of his plans, encouraging him to study engineering at the university in Munich where his friend works. He could learn to build bridges, he tells Wilm. "Building is much more satisfying than destroying." but at this point Wilm is bent on retaliation.

Otto also attempts to convey to Wilm the effects his actions are having on innocent people. When Wilm stole the butter from the Soviets, Otto tells him "Do you fancy yourself a folk hero? I hope not. Those railyard guards spent half the day in unpleasant interrogations because of you. Collusion. Do you know that word. It means they thought the guards were working with you." Otto explains that the result of the house search led the Soviets to discover a guard who has been selling boots on the black market. "But sometimes we don't see the ripples that flow out from our actions." Otto warns Wilm that his increasingly daring actions are scaring him. Wilm knows that this is because Otto sees him becoming like the Soviets and the Schupos. The trouble is Wilm is not sure he's afraid of becoming like them.

Wilm tells Otto about his deal with Ernst because his conscience is troubling him. He tries to justify his choice by telling Otto he could learn about the police and use that knowledge against them. However, Otto tells Wilm he is fooling himself, that some of the people he would be hunting down, would not be criminals. "Some of them would be young men like you, young men whose sisters were raped and who need to find some kind of justice, young men who want some freedom." Otto tells Wilm that his choice will turn him into an oppressor. "You will end up doing things you never dreamed possible. You should have trusted your friend more, and trusted that he would not betray you when they questioned him."

When Wilm's attempts to burn the Soviet barracks turn deadly he is horrified that he may have killed men - even Soviets. But Wilm proves he is different from Ernst when they meet outside Bad Elster. Ernst mistakes Wilm's reluctance to shoot him as cowardice, but Wilm tells him, "No," I whispered. "I have the guts. But pulling that trigger, killing and unarmed man, would make me...just like you. And I refuse to become that."

Bass sets up the character of Ernst Weber as the antagonist early in the novel. It is evident that Ernst is a morally compromised person through his actions. He did not attempt to intervene to save Anneliese when she was attacked. Even worse, he abandons Anneliese and then lies to her brother, telling him she was unfaithful when in fact, she's been raped.

Throughout the novel, the brutality and cruelness of Ernst becomes more and more evident. When Wilm does a good deed in walking Ernst's girlfriend, Johanna home, he is threatened repeatedly by him. He believes Wilm will behave as other men have and try to take Johanna away from him. Later on, he forces Wilm to promise to join the Schupos in exchange for his friend, Georg's freedom. Ernst becomes so determined to hunt down Wilm that even when Wilm has crossed the Czech border into West Germany, he continues shooting. If it were not for the Americans, Ernst would have crossed into West Germany and killed Wilm. The character of Ernst proves that Otto was right to warn Wilm about acting on his promise to Ernst to join the Schupos. Ernst proves Otto's prediction to be correct - that those who side with evil eventually do evil and find themselves doing things they never imagined they would do.

Graffiti Knight paints a detailed picture of post-war life in Leipzig;:mounds of rubble from bombed out buildings, pharmacies lacking in medicine, food shortages in the city, (Wilm's family eat thin potato soup and rarely have meat.), brutal Soviet soldiers who beat men and rape the local women, and German police who instead of protecting their countrymen play a part in their subjugation. Bass uses various characters in the novel to present different aspects of life under Soviet rule. The characters of Anneliese, Wilm's mother, and Herr Bader portray the fear experienced by the German people now occupied by the Soviets. Ruth and Georg are used to demonstrate the fierce hunger that many faced as the Soviets confiscate their food. Otto represents how some Germans tried to work within the system and yet not be a part of it. And Ernst demonstrates what happens when one actively participates in an evil regime and himself becomes corrupted.

Graffiti Knight is replete with the themes of redemption, honour and forgiveness. Wilm's father feels that his life after the war with a missing leg, is without honor. " 'Why didn't they let me die on the battlefield?' Father rapped his empty glass on the shelf beside his chair. 'I was their enemy. They should have let me die...There's honor in dying on the battlefield...With tears clinging to his lashes, he whispered, 'What honor is in this, Wilhelm?' He slapped the thigh of his amputated leg. 'What hope for any honor at all?' " In the end his father recovers his honour by attacking Ernst Weber during his interrogation. Instead of the reaction he is expecting, Ernst is thanked by Wilm for giving his father the opportunity to die honourably.

One of the subjects Bass tackles in her book is the widespread rape of German women by Soviet soldiers. It was recently revealed that around 400,000 children were conceived as a result of rape and love affairs by occupying troops. Rape as a tactic of war has only recently been acknowledged and it was common by both Soviet and German soldiers during World War II.  Karen Bass's novel also drives home the realities war brings to mankind; destruction, famine, and great suffering on many levels. People do things in war that they might never consider in times of peace.

Graffiti Knight has a map of the setting for the story and the Historical Note at the back provides some background information for the time period of the novel. Well written, engaging, with realistic characters and a believable plot, Graffiti Knight is another fine novel from Canadian author Karen Bass. The subject matter however is recommended for older teens.

Book Details:

Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass
Toronto: Pajama Press    2013
288 pp.

A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury

A Moment Comes is set in Jalandhar, in the Punjab region of India, in 1947, when the country is afire with religious violence as it is undergoing the partitioning into two new countries. Britain is relinquishing control of India, the crown jewel of its vast empire. After over 200 years of British rule which had set Hindu and Muslim against one another so as to conquer this vast country, it has been decided India will become two countries, India and the newly formed Pakistan - the new Muslim homeland.

In 1947, British India is home to 255 million Hindus, 92 million Muslims who live in the northeast and northwest part of the country and 6 million Sikhs who live in the diverse Punjab region. Lord Mountbatten, Viceroy of India has been charged with overseeing the creation of the new country and the drawing up of the boundary between Pakistan and India.

The time of the partition is one filled with violence and confusion. Over 10 million people in India must relocate; Muslims in India must relocate to Pakistan, while Hindus/Sikhs from the area of India that will become Pakistan must migrate to India. The partitioning and the inevitable disputes over the boundary only serve to highlight the religious divide, resulting in murder, rape and kidnapping by both Muslims and Hindus and over one million people will die as a result.

Into this turmoil, the lives of three young people intersect. Seventeen year old Margaret Darnsley is the daughter of a British cartographer sent to India to help map the new boundary between India and Pakistan. Employed by the Darnsley family is Tariq an eighteen year old Muslim whose family will be leaving for Pakistan and seventeen year old Anupreet, a beautiful Sikh girl who has already experienced one violent attack resulting in the scarring of her face. 

Margaret is bored by her closeted existence within the family compound and her mother's all-consuming concern with improving the family's social status. Tariq desperately wants to study in England, so that he may return to Pakistan to lead his country. He sees his employment with the British cartographer as a step towards this goal. Meanwhile, Anupreet's family has managed to obtain employment for their daughter with the Darnsley's with whom they believe she will be safe from further attacks.

This sets up an unusual dynamic in the Darnsley household; Tariq is attracted to Anupreet but it is an attraction that can never be fulfilled because such a relationship is forbidden due to their different religions. Tariq is also attracted to Margaret who is so different from Anupreet - in fact exotic to him with her blonde hair and strange ways. But she is British and so their relationship too would be forbidden. Margaret is attracted to Tariq but keeps her attraction hidden from him and her parents. Instead she begins to form a friendship with Anupreet who likewise hopes to be friends with Margaret but realizes that true friendship involves the complete sharing of ideas and secrets - something both girls cannot do.

Underlying the story of Margaret, Tariq and Anupreet in the Darnsley household is the story of Tariq and his childhood friend, Sameer. Sameer, also a Muslim, has turned to a life of crime, participating in the riots against the Sikhs and Hindus, and also blackmailing them for protection money. He attempts to draw Tariq into this life on several occasions, challenging Tariq to be on the "right side" when the time comes. It is this relationship that ultimately will draw all three teens together, forcing Tariq to choose one of two paths.

Discussion

Many readers might find A Moment Comes somewhat slow paced, but Bradbury manages to hold her reader's interest with the interesting dynamics between the three main characters. This is the novel's strength; its exploration of the relationships between three young people and how they struggle to relate to one another within the conventions of Indian (and British) society during the time of Partition. The reader is eager to see how the relationship between Tariq and Margaret develops, and whether Anupreet and Margaret can forge a friendship given their cultural and class differences.

Each teen struggles to live with their families expectations for them. This is clearly shown by Tariq who wants to study in England and who hopes that Mr. Darnsley will help him achieve this dream. However, his family does not support him as they want him to travel with them to Pakistan where he can study at Lahore. For Tariq, the prestige of a British education is paramount since he believes this will make his countrymen listen to him.

Likewise, Margaret Darnsley, is also expected to behave according to British etiquette, although she already has an indiscretion to her credit back in England. Margaret loves the beautiful saris and the salwar kameez that Anupreet helps her purchase at the market across from their compound and she finds the traditional Indian clothing to be comfortable and practical in the hot, humid climate of Jalandhar. But her mother is horrified by her daughter's foray into Indian culture.

"Mrs. Darnsley turns away from the window, starts to answer her husband, but when she catches sight of Margaret, her face pales.

"What on earth are you wearing?" she asks he daughter. She doesn't sound pleased.
Margaret backs away from the window. "I picked it out from the market -- it just arrived, its so much cooler --"

"Go and change at once," her mother orders. "You look ridiculous. ..."

The last half of the novel picks up the pace as Tariq, Margaret and Anupreet's lives are thrown together by the violence in India. The twist in the plot sees the three teens come together to help one another as the day of Partition arrives.

Bradbury tells her story in the alternating narratives of Tariq, Margaret and Anupreet. Their voices are authentic and unique and capture the fears and uncertainty that would have been felt during this time. A Moment Comes is an interesting novel about a very fascinating historical event that many young people may not know much about, nor study in school but which still reverberates through the Indian subcontinent to this day.

Book Details:
A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury
New York: Anetheum Books for Young Readers 2013
278 pp.