In Veera Hiranandani's Amil and the After, a tender companion to her 2019 Newbery Honor-winning The Night Diary, Amil, the fraternal twin of the first book's narrator, Nisha, takes center stage.
The family, nominally Hindu, is living in Bombay after Partition (the 1947 separation of India and Pakistan). Though Papa, 12-year-olds Nisha (a writer) and Amil (an artist), and their paternal grandmother, Dadi, are settled in a small apartment, their beloved Muslim cook, Kazi, must hide his identity. The immediate family, too, has a potentially dangerous secret: Papa was Hindu and Mama, who died during childbirth, was Muslim. Amil craves a happy life now that the family has a permanent living place: "he didn't want to think about the before or about what would happen after--after today, after tomorrow, and so on.... Right now, he had everything he wanted." But Amil cannot forget their arduous journey to India from the country that is now Pakistan. When Amil meets Vishal, a boy in school who is a Muslim orphan in need of food and medical care, Amil's great empathy drives his family to act.
Readers of The Night Diary will likely find their appreciation for the first book enhanced by Amil's memories, though the boy's story stands sturdily alone. Amil's artistic skills grow throughout the novel, as shown by the naïve-style black-and-white line drawings by Prashant Miranda, who offers more details in each consecutive illustration. An extensive glossary and author's note provide background that may be essential in helping young readers understand the historical period in which this compelling novel takes place. --Melinda Greenblatt, freelance book reviewer