A Golden Age
by Tahmima Anam
Buy on AmazonAs Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming; her children are almost grown-up; and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air. But none of the guests at Rehana's party can foresee what will happen in the days and months that follow. For this is East Pakistan in 1971, a country on the brink of war. And this family's life is about to change for ever.
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"While Days of 1971 is the recollections of a mother, this is a different generation writing about the Liberation War. Tahmima based her book on the memories of her grandparents. She also paints a bigger picture of 1947 and how we were separated again and again. The main character is a Pakistani woman living in Bangladesh, and she sided with Bangladesh during the war. This was a very emotional decision. She is an amazing character but you would find many others like her in real life – there were many cases of Pakistanis siding with Bangladesh. And there were many families with a Pakistani father and a Bengali mother, or vice-versa. It was a very complicated and intertwined thing and Tahmima portrayed these feelings masterfully. It is a story of divided hearts. When this book was published it sent ripples throughout Bangladesh. It is now very popular across the globe. I’ve met her three or four times. Her father is quite powerful in Bangladesh but she has built a brilliant career of her own in London."
Bangladesh · fivebooks.com