River Of Fire by Qurratulain Hyder

Time flows with the words,sentences and sometimes between the lines too, in this epoch novel. If you could see the passage of time in a dry leaf floating away in a stream, then there are many streams and many leaves representing lives in this book. It transcends time and makes you think how insignificant we are (when placed in that big picture) and especially of what we think are the significant actions.

The book spans across 25 centuries and the interlacing of the stories is done very well.Though the partition of the Indian subcontinent is the backdrop for the last quarter of the book, it never details the blood-bathed incidents. Instead the essence is translated into the lives of protagonists which gently stirs you and moves you.In a dynamic setting, such as this , death loses it's meaning and is often substituted by a more telling story.