THE PARTED EARTH
Charles Frazier Cold Mountain Fund Book Series
Spanning more than half a century and cities from New Delhi to Atlanta, Anjali Enjeti’s debut is a heartfelt and human portrait of the long shadow of the Partition of India on the lives of three generations of women.
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The story begins in August 1947. Unrest plagues the streets of New Delhi leading up to the birth of the Muslim majority nation of Pakistan, and the Hindu majority nation of India. Sixteen-year-old Deepa navigates the changing politics of her home, finding solace in messages of intricate origami from her secret boyfriend Amir. Soon Amir flees with his family to Pakistan and a tragedy forces Deepa to leave the subcontinent forever.
The story also begins sixty years later and half a world away, in Atlanta. While grieving both a pregnancy loss and the implosion of her marriage, Deepa’s granddaughter Shan begins the search for her estranged grandmother, a prickly woman who had little interest in knowing her. As she pieces together her family history shattered by the Partition, Shan discovers how little she actually knows about the women in her family and what they endured.
For readers of Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins, The Parted Earth follows Shan on her search for identity after loss uproots her life. Above all, it is a novel about families weathering the lasting violence of separation, and how it can often take a lifetime to find unity and peace.
LISTS
PRAISE
“I have read many books so far this year, but I can say unequivocally that The Parted Earth has affected me the deepest. For its emotional honesty and insights, for its elegant craftsmanship, and for braiding all of this through a cultural history most of us know nothing about, this is a novel with the gravitas to transform. Don’t miss it.” — Shannon Gibey, Star Tribune
“Enjeti’s debut is as tightly plotted as it is heartfelt.” — Wendy J. Fox, Buzzfeed
“The stunning debut novel…delves deeply into the ramifications of the Partition and its resulting diaspora through the heartrending experiences of three generations. Enjeti masterfully balances the epic with the intimate in a narrative that captures the past while speaking directly to ongoing dialogues of identity, acceptance and culpability.” — Jonathon Haupt, The Post and Courier
“The Parted Earth is about both firsthand trauma and inherited trauma, and it’s galvanized by the modern belief that recovery and remembrance can help to restore what history has broken.” — Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
“Every family has untold stories buried in the fog of the past,” says Henry Louis Gates Jr. on his PBS series “Finding Your Roots.” Through Shan’s diligence, the fog is dispelled and Deepa’s full story is told. Being told, it can be properly valued. The jumpy structure pays off, and we see the whole tapestry, and it is well-woven.” — Phil Kloer, The Atlanta Journal Constitution
“[An] immersive debut novel.” — Publishers Weekly
“Enjeti treats her subject matter with utmost respect. What we’re left with is a moving, nuanced, fictionalized portrait of a piece of history far from ancient.” — Malavika Praseed, Chicago Review of Books
“When the puzzle pieces come together at the end (including the long-awaited reveal about Amir’s fate), it’s both a bittersweet relief and an opportunity for reflection on the complexity of interfaith relationships, the cost of sacrifice and what it means to be home.” — Alexis Burling, San Francisco Chronicle
“The Parted Earth rips open a raw and festering wound and so the process is expectedly wrenching. Yet, Enjeti’s soulful writing is a healing balm. There’s a lot of pain here but also hope for redemption. It’s proof that even in history’s darkest hours, we can usually spot a light at the end of the tunnel.” — Poornima Apte, Khabar
“Small, small details like these become reminders to the reader that even when the earth breaks, she continues to provide and embody beauty. Enjeti’s commitment to providing sensorial and textural details undoubtedly captured and sustained my buy-in.” — Saahil Mehta, Brown Girl Magazine
“Enjeti creates authentic characters that readers will treasure, but her novel is strongly plot-driven. She is a captivating storyteller, and The Parted Earth is full of twists and turns that ultimately arrive in a satisfying resolution, leaving readers buoyed by the protagonists’ journey, despite it being an arduous one.” — Brown Girl Bookshelf
“The Parted Earth is an epic novel of home and homeland, family and community, love and betrayal. In Anjali Enjeti’s deft hands, the story of a woman’s search for her grandfather, and for a connection to the ancestors, is brought to life. A fantastic debut.” —Laila Lalami, author of The Other Americans