The 1947 Partition of India is the backdrop for this powerful novel, narrated by a precocious child who describes the brutal transition with chilling veracity. Young Lenny Sethi is kept out of school because she suffers from polio. She spends her days with Ayah, her beautiful nanny, visiting with the large group of admirers that Ayah draws. It is in the company of these working class characters that Lenny learns about religious differences, religious intolerance, and the blossoming genocidal strife on the eve of Partition. As she matures, Lenny begins to identify the differences between the Hindus, Moslems, and Sikhs engaging in political arguments all around her. Lenny enjoys a happy, privileged life in Lahore, but the kidnapping of her beloved Ayah signals a dramatic change. Soon Lenny’s world erupts in religious, ethnic, and racial violence. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this domestic drama serves as a microcosm for a profound political upheaval.

Ice Candy Man is a heartbreaking story about the Partition of India and the 1947 upheaval that left countless people homeless, hurt and/or dead. This period of time has been documented from various viewpoints, but Sidhwa’s novel approaches the subject from the point-of-view of a little girl who lived through the troubles. Once precocious and seemingly innocent to the world, the main character, Lenny, finds herself altered forever from the reality unfolding around her, as India and Pakistan both form from the rubble of the Partition. The book has been so successful that it was also made into a film, titled 1947.

Now Filmed as 1947, a motion picture by Deepa Mehta Few novels have caught the turmoil of the Indian subcontinent during Partition with such immediacy, such wit and tragic power.