The Parted Earth

By: Anjali Enjeti

Narrated by: Deepti Gupta

Spanning more than half a century and cities from New Delhi to Atlanta, Anjali Enjeti’s debut is a heartfelt and human portrait of the long shadow of the partition of the Indian subcontinent on the lives of three generations.

The story begins in August 1947. Unrest plagues the streets of New Delhi leading up to the birth of the Muslim majority nation of Pakistan, and the Hindu majority nation of India. Sixteen-year-old Deepa navigates the changing politics of her home, finding solace in messages of intricate origami from her secret boyfriend Amir. Soon Amir flees with his family to Pakistan and a tragedy forces Deepa to leave the subcontinent forever.

The story also begins nearly seven decades later and half a world away, in Atlanta. While grieving both a pregnancy loss and the implosion of her marriage, Deepa’s granddaughter Shan begins the search for her estranged grandmother, a prickly woman who had no interest in knowing her. When she begins to piece together her family history shattered by the Partition, Shan discovers how little she actually knows about her ancestors and what they endured.

For listeners of Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins and Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, The Parted Earth follows characters on their search for identity after loss uproots their lives. Above all, it is a novel about families weathering the lasting violence of separation, and how it can often take a lifetime to find unity and peace. Beautifully performed by Audie-nominated Deepti Gupta.

©2021 Anjali Enjeti (P)2021 Novel Audio

Top 5 book

I felt I knew the characters and felt their joys and pain. I wasn’t sure how I felt when Deepa’s story abruptly ended but I quickly became immersed in the new characters lives and the stories wove together beautifully. The narrator was excellent. I’ll be following this author for more stories in the future.

deeply beautiful

Wonderful, tragic and so deeply heartening this book is my favorite read so far this year. I really loved the three generation perspective and the way that the art in the book told so much history.

Beautiful

A heartbreaking and heartwarming exploration of Indian intergenerational trauma and connection. I’m buying the hard copy to share with friends.

Beautifully written

A very sad yet beautiful story about a period of time seldom shared. Thank you for sharing this. I look forward to reading/listening to more of your work—also one of my favorite performers featured in this audio version 🪷 🇮🇳🤍 🇵🇰

This is a beautiful story of love and the wounding that loss can inflict

This is a look into the lives of the people who were uprooted by the partition of India/ Pakistan in 1947. Their descendants learn of their cultural history as they try to understand their lives and the unknown history of their parents and grandparents. Struggling with all the pros and cons of 21st century society, they learn the truth about their unknown and difficult families.
This is not an easy, feel good book, but does have my favorite quality: it shows the triumph of the human spirit.