Fireflies in the Mist

This English translation of a 1979 work written by the late Hyder (River of Fire), one of the most respected 20th-century writers in the Urdu language, is a complex, fragmented novel that describes both the complicated relationship between India and Great Britain and the formation of a country, Bangladesh, which was East Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. Hyder's intricate narrative describes a cross section of Indian families (Muslim, Hindu, and Christian), starting in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Her central characters are four young women from these families, with a focus on their heritage, talents, goals, and desire to see India free from Britain. Deepali, who is in love with a renowned Indian dissident, Rehan Ahmed, bears witness to the many changes occurring in India post-World War II. In a culture in which family honor is utmost and arranged marriages are the norm, the political and socioeconomical tumult these women face leads to family separations and exile; how they cope with loss, violence, and the shedding of political ideologies in the face of growing capitalism will shake their lives.