City of Ghosts
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Book Description
A powerful new story by mulit-prize-winning author Bali Rai. An epic tale of love, war and rebellion.
Product Description
It's 1919 and Amritsar is a city on the brink of rebellion. Riots, violence and tension spill onto the streets . . .
Bissen Singh fought bravely for the British Empire during World War One. Now he waits patiently for news from England. Gurdial, a young orphan, is desperate to marry Sohni, the daughter of a rich and evil man. And Jeevan, Gurdial's oldest friend, is swept up in the revolution and changing beyond all recognition.
Bissen, Gurdial and Jeevan are looking to the future whilst trying to escape ghosts from the past. But as the fight for Amritsar reaches a terrifying climax, their lives will be changed for ever.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
History with a touch of magic,
By L (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: City of Ghosts (Hardcover)
City of Ghosts is set primarily in Amritsar, India, at a time of great unrest. The narrative consists of several different story threads woven together with the help of flashback scenes, characters' letters, and even a little magic realism. The main thread is that of Bissen Singh, a young Sikh who fought for the British army during World War I and is now living back in Amritsar. Bali Rai takes us back to Bissen's horrific experiences on the battlefields of France and also to the wartime hospital where his romance with English nurse Lillian first blossomed. In addition, we have the story of orphan boy Gurdial and his sweetheart Sohni, desperate to be together despite opposition from her self-serving father. Alongside these tales of star-crossed lovers, there's the story of lonely Jeevan, who falls under the influence of the revolutionaries who befriend him - with terrible consequences. The action comes to a head on the day of the Amritsar Massacre, which occured in April 1919 when a troop of British soldiers opened fire on unarmed Indian civilians.
I sometimes find that historical novels can be a little dry, especially when an author sacrifices storytelling or characterisation for the sake of historical accuracy. This is definitely not the case in City of Ghosts. So while Bali Rai makes use of certain historical details in his portrayal of the events leading to the Amritsar Massacre and Bissen Singh's experiences in World War I, the focus is generally personal, through the eyes of fictional characters. My favourite moments were definitely those when fact and fiction blurred, such as when Bisssen sneaks out from his hospital ward at the Royal Pavilion to join Lillian for his first ever taste of British fish and chips. Although there is a certain amount of bloodshed in the story, this is always portrayed in a way that reminds the reader that these episodes in our history were lived through by those who felt the pain of them first hand. These are not dry old facts we're dealing with; they're the moving and tragic stories of real people. Alongside the harsher details of this era we're also treated to the beauty of Sohni and Gurdial's story, and the almost fairytale magic of the mysterious stranger who helps Gurdial with the seemingly impossible task that Sohni's evil father sets for him. City of Ghosts is a little more grown up than most YA novels I've read. Despite the fact that it deals with a difficult period in British-Indian history, I found the novel's message to be a positive one. This is a book that gives us love and hate side by side, and reassures us that out of the two love is the more powerful of human emotions. I'd recommend this one to readers who would like to learn more about an often-overlooked aspect of world history, and to anybody who enjoys a beautiful love story. It's epic, moving and as haunting as the title suggests.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
City of ghosts,
By
This review is from: City of Ghosts (Hardcover)
If you like a good story you will enjoy this book. The action races along as the relationships of the 3 main characters unfold, and there's a sense of impending disaster as the city heads towards riot and massacre.
This was a period of history I didn't know much about, and I hadn't realised that Indian soldiers had fought in the First World War. Although the novel is set in the past, you never feel that you are getting a history lesson. There are a lot of contemporary resonances, which make the reader wonder what forms of civil disobedience can be justified. My only criticism is that the characterization sometimes seemed a bit thin. Having said that, the story moved at such a pace that I was happy to fill in the gaps.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amritsar retold.,
By
This review is from: City of Ghosts (Hardcover)
I think this book is quite brilliant! Bali Rai has produced a story that combines real people and events with fiction and the result is an account of the Amritsar Massacre that today's young adults can easily understand.
The story looks at the lives of three young men who will eventually be caught up in the massacre. Bissen suffered terrible injuries in the trenches during World War 1, when he was fighting for Britain and he now longs to hear from Lillian who nursed him and fell in love with him during his recovery. Meanwhile he has demons to fight and opium helps him through the day. Gurdial, a boy from the orphanage, is in love with a rich man's daughter and is seeking a way for them to make a life together. It won't be easy. Jeevan is also an orphan and more than anything, this young man wants to be part of a family, and he wants someone to think he is special. Poor lad! He makes a very wrong decision and pays a very high price! Watching over all of this is one of the city's ghosts. Some of the scenes of violence are quite hard to bear, but they are realistic and never gratuitous, so in honour of those who were forced to live through these terrible events, I resisted the temptation to skip those pages. Like Bali Rai himself, I have never been aware of the fact that so many Indian soldiers fought and died in the trenches during the 1914 - 1918 war. Why are they not featured in the literature, the art, the collections of photographs or the many documentaries we have all seen. I think it is important that today's young people are aware of our country's history - the good and the bad - so I applaud Mr Rai for making us remember Amritsar. I just hope lots of YA readers will read this book - it is excellent!
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