This was the next book I picked up for the Orbis Terrarum challenge. This will also be the last book I read before the challenge officially ends. I have my other 2 books planned but my library does not stock them so till I get them, I have to wait.

This was a book I wanted to read for ages and for some reason or the other never got to it. Let me warn you ahead – it is a real slow read. If you want to flip through the pages like I usually like to – this book is just not for you. It is set in India-Pakistan and takes sometime to soak into. It is a book I cannot do justice to the review. I try putting the story and my thoughts coherently together but I am failing rather miserably.

The book travels through time – the narrator – Saleem Sinhai born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947 as India gained independence tells the story of his family. The narrator dying tells his story to Padma in a pickle factory in Bombay. He starts with his grandfather’s love story – an odd courtship through a hole in a sheet held in place by bodyguards in Kashmir.The story travels to Mumbai via Agra. It travels through Pakistan – war – rise and fall.

The writing style, the almost magical story, the realism makes this a great read. Unfortunately, I cannot put my thoughts and review together but I just want to say – read this book and it will surprise you.

Saleem birth, the crime nurse Mary