A History of Burning
A History of Burning
Butcher Rochelle
, Melissa Poremba
, Eva Esmann
, Aleksandra Sobczak
, Wayne Ng
, Mary Therrien
, Agnes Marshall
, Patricia Johnson
, Barry Kazimer
, cassandra schiemann
, Joan Clare
, Janice Hutchinson
, Catherine Westerberg
, Sandra Furlotte
, Sarah Schwartz
, Lara Maynard
, Marilyn Stanley
, Joanna McFarlane-Frampton
, Jocelyn Heisel
, Margaret McKay
, Jude Castillo
, Wiley Ho
, Tyra Antle
, Sandra Perry
, Noelle Walsh
, Deana Bueley
, Gabrielle Wolfe
, Hoda Montazeri
, Andrea Pole
, Natasa Ilic
, Cathalynn Labonte-Smith
, Margo Beredjiklian
, Alison Jacques
, Rose Ghaedi
, Susan Jang
, Anna Krentz
, Teree Hokanson
, Andrea Gillespie
, Linda Leitch
, Deb Philippon
, PATRICIA SOPEL
, Marissa Yip-Young
, Rhona Brinkman
, Elaine Baptie
, Chris Carvalho
, Colby Clair Stolson
, Dani Kat
, Claudie Léveillé
, Connie Bennett
, Claire Gear
, Ms Bookmarked
, Diane Normandin
, Lynn Bechtel
, BJ Underwood
, Janet Miller
, Liz Moreau
, Christine Lion
, Pamela Roberts Griffith
, Benita Hartwell
, Shonna Froebel
, Tiffany C
, Susan Terendy
, Patricia McKeown
, Rachel Edmonds
, Paula Adam
, jane luce
, Derek Davidson
, Rebecca Dixon
, Penelope Penner
, Janice Cournoyer
, Shannon Lee
, Kat Sommer-Derksen
, Zara Garcia-Alvarez
, Huguette Lemieux
, Paula Ritchie
, Mary Lester
, Denise Duvall
, Susan Toy
, Nancy Reid
, Rodney Cross
, Rosa Cross
, Kim Cappellina
, Ken Gilmour
, Sara Conway
, Kym Marsh
, Sarah Van Dyk
, Lisa Mallia
, Ele Pawelski
, Jessica Gilbert
, Angela Mitchell
, Debra Fisher
, Lauraine Twilley
, Joe Mitchell
editor@49thShelf.com
India, 1898. Pirbhai is the thirteen-year-old breadwinner for his family when he steps into a dhow on the promise of work, only to be taken across the ocean to labour on the East African Railway for the British. With no money or voice but a strong will to survive, he makes an impossible choice that will haunt him for the rest of his days and reverberate across generations.
Pirbhai’s children go on to thrive in Uganda during the waning days of British colonial rule. As the country moves towards independence and military dictatorship, Pirbhai’s granddaughters—sisters Latika, Mayuri, and Kiya—come of age in a divided nation, each forging her own path for the future. Latika is an aspiring journalist with a fierce determination to fight for what she believes in. Mayuri’s ambitions will take her farther away from her family than she ever imagined. And fearless Kiya will have to bear the weight of their secrets.
Forced to flee Uganda during Idi Amin’s brutal expulsion of South Asians in 1972, the family must start their lives over again in Toronto. Then one day news arrives that makes each generation question how far they are willing to go, and who they are willing to defy, to secure a place of their own in the world.
A masterful and breathtakingly intimate saga of colonialism and exile, complicity and resistance, A History of Burning is a radiant debut about the stories our families choose to share—and those that remain unspoken.
