The Song of Distant Bulbuls

In the autumn of 1939, seventeen-year-old Sammi has been married for onlytwenty-one days when her husband, Hari Singh, an officer in the British IndianArmy, is summoned to fight inWWII.The heartbroken couple bid each othergoodbye. Sammi awaits Hari Singh's return in her village,Aliwala, a syncretichamlet with Sufi bearings in the hinterland of Punjab. It is 1946 but there isno word from Hari Singh. He has been gone for nearly seven years. Caughtbetween her two feuding brothers, Jasjit and Kirpal, the now twenty-threeyear-old Sammi clings to her husband's memory.India is on the brink of gaining independence from the British. Jasjit worriesthat independence will damage age-old communal bonds and separate himfrom his closest friend, Zulfi Sheikh. Meanwhile Kirpal plans to solidify hissocial standing by forcing Sammi to marry his boyhood friend, the influentialBachan Singh.Will Sammi be forced into a second marriage or will she findthe courage to step out of the narrow alleys of Aliwala in search of a new life?Inspired by true events, The Song of Distant Bulbuls is set in a singularlyturbulent time in world history.The novel poses epic questions: is happinessan elusive goal? Is love the ultimate aim of human life or a means to somethingelse?What does it take to realize who one truly loves and how much?