Books of 2024 - Book 11

So, a new friend suggested this book when I mentioned I love fiction. I had a solo trip to Mumbai coming up and figured I'd have some downtime, so I needed a new read. I ordered Sunlight On A Broken Column by Attia Hosain from Amazon, and it arrived just in time, two nights before my trip.

I haven't read A Suitable Boy but I did watch the Netflix series, and this book has a similar vibe. It's about Laila, an orphan from a distinguished Muslim family, and it follows her life from her teenage years through to adulthood, all set against the backdrop of the 1940s. We see how her freedom ebbs and flows based on her guardians' beliefs. Her aunt starts off strong but ends up with little control over her own marriage. The book also touches on how partition and new laws impact their lives. Just yesterday I was listening to Amit Verma’s podcast The Seen and the Unseen episode with Shephali Bhatt. They were discussing this Urdu word “Thehrao” (a pause after thunder). Shephali beautifully explained how a person’s way of talking will have thehrao after they have “lived” a life. This reminded me of this book and how turbulent lives people of that era lived.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book.