The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali by Uzma Aslam Khan
The Andaman Islands are located in the northeast part of the Indian Ocean, close to Myanmar. Now most of them are part of India, but in 1789 the British built a naval base and penal colony there. The islands have a dark history, based on principles inhumane to the residents, the prisoners, and eventually families. Written records are almost silent.
In The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali, Pakistani author Uzma Aslam Khan tells the story through emotions, thoughts, and the fates of two Local Borns – Nomi and her brother Zee. They are the offspring of a prisoner father who has served his sentence and now lives free on the island; no prisoner is ever allowed to return to India.
The novel’s timeline starts a few years before WWII and continues on through the war. As in all human settlements, residents have assumed essential roles in providing for and managing the island (beyond the impositions of the British). Shakuntala runs the brothel and a productive farm. Aye is Zee’s friend, as well as a worker at the jail and the “pet” of Mr Howard, the jail’s superintendent. Susumu is the dentist, kindly gentle to the children who come to him. The “prisoner who was no longer a prisoner” escapes to a life of hiding – known to everyone local, yet out of sight of the oppressors.
During WWII, the Japanese successfully invaded the Andaman Islands, displacing the British. Their words were inclusive, but their actions terrorized the islanders. Staying out of sight was the healthiest strategy, but not always the most feasible. Japan was supporting the Indian National Army, the Indian independence movement, with impressive lip service that led only to betrayal.
In this dangerous fraught environment, Nomi is learning and growing. As a child she tries to make sense of the power struggles, while developing loyalties to those who seemed to have the locals in their hearts. Missing individuals form holes in her understanding, while she struggles innocently to find herself in a coherent world.
The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali slowly unfolds the hidden history of people too small to be noticed. Uzma Aslam Khan makes use of tiny islands to reveal great truths about our own world.
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