History of Burning

An immersive, kaleidoscopic debut for fans of Homegoing and Pachinko- one family’s search for a better life through four continents, four generations and a century of change.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A SARAH JESSICA PARKER BOOK OF THE YEAR

Four generations. Three sisters. One impossible choice.

Tricked aboard a boat to East Africa, Pirbhai is only thirteen when he is forced by the British into labouring on the railway. Under sweltering heat, hungry and frightened, he commits a terrible act just to survive.

He will never tell a soul, even when he meets Sonal, a fierce, loving woman with whom he starts a family in Uganda, in hope of a better life. But their granddaughters come of age in a divided nation.

Finally forced to flee, the family scatters across the world. They take with them a steel pot, a handful of photos, and a secret – that one day, will help them find each other again.

A History of Burning is a gorgeous family portrait of love, survival, inheritance – and the eternal search for home.

One family’s search for a better life, for fans of Half of a Yellow Sun, Homegoing and Pachinko

‘A remarkable debut . . . haunting, symphonic’ New York Times

‘Vast and intricate, alight with love and contained fury . . . A book I want to press into readers’ hands and discuss for hours’ Megha Majumdar, author of A BURNING

Shortlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Imprint: Vintage UK
Publication date: 22/08/2024