House of Caravans: A Novel

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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 Khati 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 menone Hindu, one Muslimrelationships 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 familys 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 and enduringly timely, House of Caravans carries all the emotional heft of the best literature. (Celeste Ng)

Reviews

Praise for House of Caravans

Tolstoyan in its scope,House of Caravansis 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 ofWaiting

Grappling with themes of social injustice, immigrant life in the U.S., and thecomplicated bonds within extended families, Shilpi Sunejas novel reveals a sincere, informedengagement with matters of political history and of human dignity.Daphne Kalotay, author of Blue Hours

These are characters I wont forget, they burn with vivacity, and the scenes do too. Iam happy to be among them. . . . This is a marvelous story and Shilpi Sunejas voice livens it up.Fanny Howe, author of Love and I

I cant even begin to fully convey the complexities of this bookits richness, itstenderness, its hilarity. . . . This is a novel that will make you marvel, think, and finallybreak your heart.Michelle Hoover, author of Bottomland

A tale of kinship, violence, separation, and reunion,House of Caravansis rich and evocative, filled with unforgettable details of India at the end of colonial rule. The Partition isan enormoussubject, and this is marvelous storytelling.Allegra Goodman, author ofSam: A Novel

Author Bio

Shilpi Sunejais the author ofHouse of Caravans. Born in India, her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published inGuernica, McSweeneys, Cognoscenti, and theMichigan Quarterly Review. Her writing has been supported by a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship, a Grub Street Novel Incubator Scholarship, and she was the Desai fellow at the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat. She holds an MA in English from New York University and an MFA in creative writing from Boston University, where she was awarded the Saul Bellow Prize. She lives in Honolulu.