PHOTO SOURCE:
TYPORAMA
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HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS
LEILA SIDDIQUI
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ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF JODIE HOCKENSMITH OF JH PUBLIC RELATIONS.
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Leila
Siddiqui’s ambitious debut novel takes readers into an event from
history that is little-known to western audiences – the Partition of
India and Pakistan following WWII.
Seamlessly
blending the experience of a modern teen from an immigrant family with a
lesser-known myth and a forgotten piece of WWII history, HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS explores how
the horrors of the past continue to shape the lives of South Asians
around the world and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in YA
fiction.
HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS (Yali Books; September 30, 2021)
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PRAISE FOR HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS:
A BuzzFeed Best Book of September 2021!
“This stunning debut is sure to entertain.” — BuzzFeed
“A genre-bending debut that highlights the intergenerational echoes of pivotal historical events.” — Kirkus Reviews
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ABOUT HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS:
While both Pakistan and India celebrate the August 15th
anniversary as their Independence Day every year, the truth of what
happened on that day in 1947 is much more complicated.
It was one of the
largest migrations in human history - a violent and historic event
where tens of millions of Hindus and Muslims had to crossover to
Pakistan if they were Muslim, or to India if they were Hindu or Sikh.
The death toll has been estimated to be between 200,000 to two million
people, but the event itself is shrouded in mystery in our western
culture.
Siddiqui, who was born and raised in the United States, grew up
understanding and celebrating her Pakistani roots, but with little idea
that her family’s origins were actually in Kanpur, in present-day
India, or that her grandparents were among those who had been forced to
flee their homeland with whatever belongings they could carry, to set up
a new life in the newly created nation of Pakistan.
Siddiqui wrote
about Pakistan’s Independence Day for the Daily News recently - see it HERE and she drew on her fascinating family history to create HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS.The
book tells the story of Maera, a teenager, living in America, whose
brother went missing during a family trip to Karachi ten years ago.
Maera lives with her mother, and her brother’s disappearance, along with
her parents’ subsequent divorce is one of the subjects they don’t
discuss, ever.
But then Maera’s grandfather dies in Pakistan, and a
mysterious greenhouse, one that Maera recognizes as her his, magically
appears overnight in the family’s backyard.
Maera becomes convinced that
the greenhouse is the key to unlocking her family’s secrets – and
perhaps recovering her long-lost brother.
Part magical realism, part horror, part history, HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS
is told in two intertwined narratives.
The first, a quest featuring
Maera and her friends attempting to discover the mysteries of the
greenhouse, and the second, unraveling the story of Maera’s grandfather –
known to her as a bitter, angry old man – and the night he was forced
to flee India with his teenage love, a night that would alter the entire
course of his family’s history.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
PHOTO CREDIT: PAUL CLARKE
Leila Siddiqui
is a Chicago-born Texan who calls New York home. She currently works in
publishing in the marketing department.
She is a horror film devotee
and when not writing spends her time fawning over her very floofy cat.
She lives with her partner in Queens, and House of Glass Hearts is her first novel.
Find her on Twitter @leilawrites or online at www.LeilaSiddiqui.com.
Thanks for stopping.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy if you read this book.