SuitabookEvie and Maryam’s Family Tree
Janeen Hayat
- Reading
- Read it in stages if the historical material feels unfamiliar, pausing to distinguish the girls’ present-day experiences from the older letters. Discuss the characters’ choices as they arise, rather than waiting until the ending.
- Themes
- Family history and identity: Evie and Maryam’s school family-tree project leads them to coded letters and a connection between their great-grandmothers in Delhi. The story presents uncovering family history as a route to greater self-understanding and understanding between the girls.
- Friendship, belonging and bullying: Maryam feels isolated at her new school, while Evie must consider what to do when a close friend targets Maryam. Bullying is presented as wrong, while Evie’s difficulty in acting shows the pressure created by divided loyalties.
- History, displacement and connection: The older characters’ letters cover unrest in India, wartime England and Safia’s displacement during the Partition of India. The historical strand is used to connect personal lives with larger political events and to show how past experiences reach later generations.
- Worth knowing
- Some material may merit preparation: Maryam is isolated, a class bully targets her, and Evie must respond when the bully is a close friend. Historical sections include unrest, displacement during Partition and wartime experiences.