A History of Burning

By: Janika Oza

Narrated by: Lipica Shah, KP Upadhyayula

This epic, sweeping historical novel full of "wondrous complexity” spans continents and a century, and reveals how one act of survival can reverberate through generations (Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin). ​

In 1898, Pirbhai, a teenage boy looking for work, is taken from his village in India to labor for the British on the East African Railway. Far from home, Pirbhai commits a brutal act in the name of survival that will haunt him and his family for years to come.

So begins Janika Oza’s masterful, richly told epic, where the embers of this desperate act are fanned into flame over four generations, four continents, throughout the twentieth century. Pirbhai’s children are born in Uganda during the waning days of British colonial rule, and as the country moves toward independence, his granddaughters, three sisters, come of age in a divided nation. Latika is an aspiring journalist, who will put everything on the line for what she believes in; Mayuri’s ambitions will take her farther away from home than she ever imagined; and fearless Kiya will have to carry the weight of her family’s silence and secrets.

In 1972, the entire family is forced to flee under Idi Amin’s military dictatorship. Pirbhai’s grandchildren are now scattered across the world, struggling to find their way back to each other. One day a letter arrives with news that makes each generation question how far they are willing to go, and who they are willing to defy, to secure their own place in the world.

A History of Burning is an unforgettable tour de force, an intimate family saga of complicity and resistance, about the stories we share, the ones that remain unspoken, and the eternal search for home.

©2023 Janika Oza (P)2023 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"Vast and intricate, alight with love and contained fury, A History of Burning is a towering debut by a phenomenal writer. A book I want to press into readers' hands and discuss for hours."—Megha Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning

"A riveting testament to home, exile, survival, and inheritance. Janika Oza is a writer you won’t want to miss.”—Lisa Ko, National Book Award finalist for The Leavers

"A History of Burning is that rare epic that manages to retain both its sweep and its intimacy. Janika Oza has written a generational saga vivid and alive with sensory and historical detail, an excavation of stories often left untold. This is a beautiful book, unflinching yet deeply engaged with that most human work, the work of forgiveness.”—Omar El Akkad, author of American War

Yes, just yes

Beautifully written. Oza captures the complexities of culture in the mundanities of family life. You leave this story, these stories, with a sense of place within the central family and within history. You feel you have witnessed a story precious but terrible, horrifying yet yielding beauty, unique but only to all of human kind. Not perfect, but Excellent.

Excellent novel incorporating culture and history

The novels is an effective vehicle for showing the challenges and plight of immigrants to a land that they become apart of (Uganda), then evicted from and forced to reestablish their home and family. Informative read. Strong performance.

Stunning

The story is alive, poignant, and engrossing. The performance is extremely well done. Highly recommend this

Slow burn

It is a 13 hour listen that took me 9 hours to sink in. I almost gave up. The jumping timeline and characters were challenging to follow in audio format. I suspect I would have had a better experience reading it so I could turn back to reference who was who.

Trouble understanding the narrator

Had trouble understanding the author. Gave up and bought the book. With this narration it is very difficult to decipher the story even when slowed down