Under Fire
There is wonderful storytelling for 9-11s in this story by Sufiya Ahmed, who has previously won CrimeFest’s Best Crime Novel for Children. The book begins in war-torn Coventry, but soon Hasan and his sister Hana (who are Anglo-Indian) are evacuated to Calcutta to live with their grandpa. Hasan has experienced extreme trauma when their home was bombed by the Germans and Hana was injured. Through his troubled eyes we see flashbacks to the fire, while in the present he encounters different kinds of oppression such as the ‘Whites Only’ divide on board ship, and other cruel segregation imposed by the British in India. When Hasan befriends the politically aware Jaya, he discovers that there is growing rebellion against the British Raj.
Ahmed has a talent for conveying huge complexities in simple ways. As Hasan is drawn into a plan to sabotage Nazi ships in Goa, Jaya helps untangle the knot of moral issues: “I can want the British to beat the Nazis and for them to leave India, can’t I?” The plot is based on actual events that contributed to the British war effort. An author’s note says that the Reservist groups really existed, working undercover in India to disrupt German intelligence.
It is an action-filled story, rich in informative background without ever seeming ‘educational’. We hear about the human-induced Bengal famine and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Hasan and Jaya cross India to Goa in the guise of street children, providing glimpses of street life among the poorest. Crucially, the personal story is compelling, for as Hasan gains in confidence and independence, the flashbacks recede until he recognises the truth about Hana. This is that beautiful thing: a novel that works seamlessly on many levels from the emotional to the political, whilst also being a rollicking good read.
