About this item
A lush, sweeping debut novel in the vein of All the Light We Cannot See, about a Hindu perfumer and a Muslim calligrapher who fall in love against the backdrop of Partition On a January morning in 1938, Samir Vij first locks eyes with Firdaus Khan through the rows of perfume bottles in his family's ittar shop in Lahore. Over the years that follow, the perfumer's apprentice and calligrapher's apprentice fall in love with their ancient crafts and with each other, dreaming of the life they will one day share. But as the struggle for Indian independence gathers force, their beloved city is ravaged by Partition. Suddenly, they find themselves on opposite sides: Samir, a Hindu, becomes Indian and Firdaus, a Muslim, becomes Pakistani, their love now forbidden.
About the Author
Aanchal Malhotra is a writer and oral historian from New Delhi. She is the co-founder of the Museum of Material Memory, and the author of two critically acclaimed books, Remnants of a Separation and In the Language of Remembering, that explore the human history and generational impact of the 1947 Partition. The Book of Everlasting Things is her debut novel.
