Readers Will Pull for Trio of Characters Despite Flaws

Summary

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Set in both India and Canada, [Anita Rau Badami]'s third novel weaves together wonderfully the journeys of three women, Bibi-ji, [Leela Bhat] and Nimmo. In a period of 60 years their lives are transformed by personal tragedies and by political turmoil.

The first character introduced is Bibi-ji or Sharanjeet Kaur, a striking beauty, who at 16 achieves her heart's desire of escaping her impoverished village by stealing her sister's fiancé

Nimmo is Bibi-ji's sister's daughter, orphaned during the devastating violence of Partition. She lives in paralyzing fear that further misfortune will befall her family.

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Extract

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Readers Will Pull for Trio of Characters Despite Flaws

Reviewed by Priti Shah

Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?

By Anita Rau Badami

Knopf Canada, 432 pages, $35

INDIAN folklore suggests that the call of the nightbird is a sound of impending...

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