A History of Burning

<p><b>Janika Oza</b> is the winner of the 2022 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction and the 2020 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Award. Her stories and essays have appeared in publications including <i>The Best Small Fictions: 2019 Anthology </i>and <i>Catapult</i>. She lives in Toronto.<br><br>Website: janikaoza.com<br>Twitter: @JanikaOza<br>Instagram: @o.janika</p> <p><b>THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER<br><br>Four generations. Three sisters. One impossible choice.</b><br><br><b>'A remarkable debut . . . haunting symphonic' </b><i><b>New York Times</b></i><br><br><b>Pirbhai is only thirteen when he is taken across the sea to East Africa on a vague promise of work. </b>He grows up fast and when he meets fierce loyal Sonal they know instantly they are one another's future.<br><br>Their family expands and thrives in the orderly white-washed city of Kampala. But their granddaughters - proud Latika diligent Mayuri and open-hearted Kiya - come of age in a divided nation. Finally forced to flee the brutality of Idi Amin the family scatters across the world.<br><br>They take with them a favourite rolling pin a handful of photos the taste memory and language of home. They carry their secrets - past and present - too. One of which when it comes out will reveal the true cost of what gets left behind.<br><br><i>A History of Burning </i>is a gorgeous family portrait of love survival inheritance - and the eternal search for home.<br><br><b>One family's search for a better life for fans of </b><i><b>Half of a Yellow Sun Homegoing </b></i><b>and </b><i><b>Pachinko</b></i><br><br><b>'Vast and intricate alight with love and contained fury . . . A book I want to press into readers' hands and discuss for hours' Megha Majumdar author of A BURNING</b></p> An <b>ambitious powerful read</b> it will transport you through time and across the globe with <b>a story that you won't forget</b> In intimate domestic scenes and scenes of societies in turmoil [Oza] displays a <b>sure-handed ability</b> to write at both small and large scale and to<b> portray with deep sympathy</b> the universal human desire to find a little place to simply exist freely and with dignity. An <b>ambitious </b>family drama <b>skilfully </b>explores the bonds of kinship and the yearning for peace and security [An] impressive debut <b>This striking epic</b> combines <b>powerful characters</b> of different generations<b> compelling storytelling</b> <b>dramatic</b> settings and conflicts and <b>thoughtful </b>explorations of displacement and belonging family ties citizenship loyalty loss and resilience <b>A riveting testament </b>to home exile survival and inheritance