In The Shade Of The Pepal Tree

by Selinder Narwan

Punjab, 1947. Amidst the chaos of Partition, seventeen-year-old Deepa flees her burning village with her little sister, carrying nothing but terror and hope. Scarred by violence, and haunted by unbearable loss, she must navigate a world where survival comes at the price of silence.

England, 2017. Deepa is eighty-six, her memories fractured by dementia. To her family she is frail, confused, paranoid—yet beneath the surface burns a lifetime of secrets she has never spoken aloud. When her daughter-in-law begins piecing together fragments of her past, the truth of what Deepa endured emerges: a story of betrayal and bravery, and ultimately of the human will to survive.

Spanning continents and generations, In the Shade of the Peepal Tree is a powerful tale of survival, memory, and the search for belonging.

What happens when silence is finally broken?