The Partition of Hearts

# The Partition of Hearts *An excerpt from the novel* --- **Lahore, August 1947** The city burned, and in the burning, everything was illuminated. Nafisa watched from the rooftop of her family's haveli as the flames consumed the neighborhood where Kishore's family had lived for generations. The Sharma house, with its courtyard fountain and its garden of roses, was gone. The shop where his father had sold books—philosophy, poetry, the banned pamphlets that had circulated during the Quit India movement—was ash. She did not know if Kishore was alive or dead. She did not know if she would ever know. "Come inside," her mother said, pulling at her arm. "It's not safe to be seen." But what was safety now? A Muslim girl who had loved a Hindu boy, in a city being partitioned along exactly that line—she was already marked, already damned, even if no one but herself knew her crime. "I'm coming," she said, and stayed where she was. The fire grew closer. --- **Delhi, March 2017** ...