The dramatic first volume in the Surya Trilogy by Whitbread award-winning author of Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin.



India, August 1947: Fleeing from their burnt-out village as civil war rages in the Punjab, Marvinder and Jaspal are separated from their mother, Jhoti. Marvinder has already saved her brother's life once, but now they both face a daily fight for survival.



Together they escape across India and nearly halfway around the world to England, to find a father they hardly know in a new, hostile culture...



A story touching on culture, class, faith and family set against the backdrop of Indian independence and the Partition of India and Pakistan. No children's books about India conveys these issues and themes with the effortless ease of Jamila Gavin. Her diverse voice is the perfect introduction to this period of history, for fans of The Bone Sparrow, Morris Gleitzman's Once, and Katherine Rundell's The Wolf Wilder.