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.
See More Family & home stories
See More Social issues: war & conflict issues
See More Social issues: religious issues
Veera Hiranandani has an MFA in Fiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, spent six years as a book editor, and is the author of the middle grade novel The Whole Story of Half a Girl as well as the chapter book series, Phoebe G. Green. She is the proud mom of two emerging foodies who even like to eat their vegetables (most of the time). She liv
More about Veera Hiranandani