‘The Parted Earth’ a riveting tale

When an entire society experiences upheaval and loss on an unprecedented scale, what are the ways this loss shows up in individual relationships, in families and communities throughout generations? This is the central question driving Anjali Enjeti’s luminous debut novel, “The Parted Earth,” and it is as complicated as it is revelatory.

The Author’s Note, says, “After three hundred years of occupation, the British finally quit India. But before leaving, they divided the subcontinent into two nations .... (Pakistand and India) More than one million people perished in the sectarian violence leading up to and following Partition. Fifteen million became refugees.”

In 16-year-old Deepa and Amir’s sweet but doomed love story (she is Hindu, he Muslim), we see the unmitigated tragedy of Partition unfold: Affection across religious lines is seen as threatening to the new social order.

After suffering more deep losses from the spiraling violence, Deepa escapes India for Europe, where she settles with her godparents, and raises her and Amir’s son, Vijay. But she never tells Vijay anything about his absent father, partly because she doesn’t know what happened to him. Vijay becomes obsessed with finding his father and travels back to India to search for him.

Only after Enjeti begins to weave the pieces of this saga together do we see a picture emerge of the aftereffects of loss through time, space and place.