Under the Tamarind Tree

In Alam’s shaky debut, four friends must face the devastating repercussions of a life-changing event in post-Partition Karachi, Pakistan. In the present day, Rozeena, a retired pediatrician, reluctantly agrees to allow the granddaughter of Haaris, a man she used to be in love with and has not seen for decades, to be her gardener. Her history with Haaris is revealed in a secondary timeline, in the mid-1960s, when Rozeena, Haaris, and their friends Aalya and Zohair attend Haaris’s welcome home ball upon his return from studying in Liverpool. Aalya, secretly from a family of servants who was bequeathed their employer’s home in a wealthy neighborhood, has feelings for Zohair, who unknowingly played a role in Rozeena’s brother’s death during the violence of Partition when India’s independence split the country in two. Aalya, though, knows she needs to find a wealthier husband to keep her family’s secret safe. A divorced stranger takes liberties with Aalya at the ball, setting off a series of shocking events that change the friends’ lives forever. Rozeena, meanwhile, strives to establish her pediatric practice and keep her widowed mother from selling their dilapidated family home. The story expends too much energy on the welcome home ball, leaving little room for character development outside of that night’s events. This underperforms. Agent: Giles Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (Aug.)