History's Angel

Description

From the Man Asian Literary Prize-longlisted author, the story of a middle-aged man in contemporary India discovering that neither his life nor his country are as stable as he thought.

Alif is a middle-aged, mild-mannered history teacher, living in contemporary Delhi, at a time when Muslims in India are seen either as hapless victims or live threats. Though his life's passion is the history he teaches, it's the present that presses down on him: his wife is set on a bigger house and a better car while trying to ace her MBA exams; his teenage son wants to quit school to get rich; his supercilious colleagues are suspicious of a Muslim teaching India's history; and his old friend Ganesh has just reconnected with a childhood sweetheart with whom Alif was always rather enamored himself.

And then the unthinkable happens. While Alif is leading a school field trip, a Hindu student goads him about being Muslim, and in a fit of anger, Alif twists his ear. Suddenly out of a job, Alif finds his life rapidly descending into chaos as his home city, too, falls under the shadow of violence.

In this darkly funny, sharply observed, and deeply moving novel, Anjum Hasan deftly and delicately explores the life of Muslims in India and the force and consequence of remembering your people's history under an establishment that wants to forget.