Five Queen's Road

Book excerpt: 'Dina Lal wasn't moving . . . Hindu or not, he wasn't, goddamnit, going anywhere.' Lahore, 1947. Dina Lal, a true-blue Lahori, refuses to leave, staying put in Five Queen's Road, a house he bought, in spite of his wife's greatest misgivings, from an Englishman who was deeply reluctant to part with it. To insulate his family from the mayhem on the streets, Dina Lal converts to Islam and as added protection invites Amir Shah, a Muslim colleague, and his children, Javid and Rubina, to share the house with him. But the events that unfold over the next few months make a mockery of Dina Lal's plans. While Dina Lal and Amir Shah cross swords with each other at every given opportunity-though unexpectedly and in spite of themselves rushing to the other's defence in moments of crisis-a furtive friendship blossoms between Dina Lal and Javid.