Partition through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl

What could have Partition meant to a 12-year-old girl who had a Hindu father and a Muslim mother? Her letters to her mother in her diary journal give a poignant insight to what went through her mind during the troubled times.

On the eve of her 12th birthday, Nisha receives a journal to record the thoughts she can never seem to say aloud as she starts to see the world through older eyes.

But it's not just Nisha who is changing. She doesn't even recognise her country anymore.

It's 1947, and India, newly freed from British rule, was divided. Many people are killed crossing borders as tensions among Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and others flare. Nisha doesn't know which side she's supposed to be on or why she has to choose. After losing her mother, who dies giving birth, she can't imagine losing her homeland, too.

Her mother was Muslim, but now she's gone. Her father is Hindu, and says it's no longer safe for them to stay in Pakistan. And so Nisha and her family become refuges and embark on a dangerous journey by train and by foot to reach their new home on the other side of the border.

Told through the letters Nisha writes to her mother in her journal, "The Night Diary", published by Penguin, is the story of one of the most dramatic moments in history and of one girl's search for home, her own identity, and a hopeful future.

In her letter of August 15, 1947, Nisha writes, "So as of today, the ground I'm standing on is not India anymore We're aupposed to leave and find a new home."
According to author Veera Hiranandani, "The fictional family depicted in this novel and their experiences are loosely based on my father's side of the family."