The Book of Everlasting Things
In 1937 Lahore, India, ten-year-old Samir, a Hindu boy, begins an apprenticeship in his uncle Vivek’s perfumery. Vivek had served with the British forces during WWI in Europe and arrived home with a box of perfume vials. In 1938, nine-year-old Firdaus comes to the shop with her father, a Muslim calligrapher. When Firdaus meets Samir, it’s love at first sight.
Wanting to print better labels on perfume bottles, Samir takes the calligrapher’s weekly lessons, also attended by Firdaus. Over the next seven years, while WWII rages, and with the Indian independence movement gathering momentum, Samir writes secret letters weekly to Firdaus. In 1947, when a Muslim homeland, Pakistan, is partitioned, bloody violence between Hindu and Muslim communities breaks out. Fortunately, Samir escapes, and while Firdaus remains in Lahore, Pakistan, he travels to Delhi in India. Both must make crucial decisions about their future.
Aanchal Malhotra, it seems, has relied on her research for her two award-winning nonfiction books on India’s Partition. But the inclusion of perfumery must have required more in-depth investigation. Exciting details of both Western and Eastern perfumes are illustrated, such as the origin of the Arabian Rose, whose petals were brought to Mecca on camels’ backs for distillation with sandalwood oil. While the events leading up to, during, and following the Partition are central, the inclusion of Vivek’s, Samir’s, and their descendants’ time in Europe make it a long novel. While these chapters, particularly those of the Indian soldiers’ service in WWI, are interesting, some readers might find themselves skimming them.
Malhotra’s depiction of the love affair between a Hindu and a Muslim, and their separation, is an allegory for the present situation between Indian and Pakistani citizens. A sentimental story and an informative read.
