NEWBERY HONOR BOOK • A poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India’s partition—and of one girl’s journey to find a new home in a divided country.
“[
The Night Diary is] a sensitive portrayal of the universal search for identity and the need for a place to call home. Beautifully written, it weaves terror, family and faith into a timeless account of courage and strength.”—Laurie Halse Anderson, The New York Times
“A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults.”—
Kirkus Reviews (One of the Best Middle Grade Books of the Century)
It’s 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.
Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn’t know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it’s too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark—first by train, later on foot—to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can’t imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together.
Told through Nisha’s letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl’s search for home, for her own identity…and for a hopeful future.
