Synopsis: It’s 1916, and Europe is at war. Yet Margaret Singh, living an entire ocean away in California, is unaffected. Then the United States enters the war against Germany. Suddenly the entire country is up in arms against those who seem “un-American” or speak against the country’s ally, Great Britain. When Margaret’s father is arrested for his ties to the Ghadar Party, a group of Indian immigrants seeking to win India’s independence from Great Britain, Margaret’s own allegiances are called into question. But she was born in America and America itself fought to be freed from British rule. So what does it even mean to be American?
It’s the storytellers that preserve a nation’s history. But what happens when some stories are silenced? The I Am America series features fictional stories based on important historical events from people whose voices have been under represented, lost, or forgotten over time.
Release Date: 1st January 2020
Format Read: Ebook
Genres: Historical, Middle Grade, War, Friendship
Pages: 118
Thank you so much to NetGalley and North Star Editions/ Jolly Fish Press for the earc to read and review.
Review: What an interesting piece of history that is hidden and never shared about, I adored this book it taught me so many new things and of history that I hadn’t ever come across once in my life.
Margaret a girl who’s dad was an Indian immigrant and mother was a white American, during the early 1900’s. As the war rages on it all comes much closer to her home than she would have expected it too.
Margaret was incredibly interesting and easily likeable. She hears what her dad was doing and as she hears she learns of things going on in the world she never wanted to hear. When later in the story she is all alone with no friends to talk to her, a ripple effect of what she over heard years before she takes it all in her stride and is so strong and resilient.
I really enjoyed learning about what it was like for other minority families during the First World War, it was interesting hearing of how India wanted to break free from English rule, the Ghadar Group which I hadn’t ever heard of before. It was really fascinating, highly educational, very fun to read and easy to escape into the story.
I love this series and I love books like this, anything that will teach me something new about history or just tell a historical story and be told in a really fascinating way I’m always happy to read it.
These books always provide extra information at the end which I adore as you get some more answers on what was really going on and learning more facts from that time era.
Where to buy: Amazon, BookDepository, Waterstones
About Author: I’m Maya Chhabra, author of Stranger on the Home Front, an #ownvoices historical middle grade novel about Punjabi immigration and WWI.
You can read my short fiction at Cast of Wonders, Anathema, Daily Science Fiction, and in the anthology 20,000 Leauges Remembered.
My poetry has appeared at Strange Horizons, among many other venues.
My translation of Tsvetaeva’s Fortune is available in Cardinal Points.
My novelette Walking on Knives, published by Less Than Three Press, is currently out of print.
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