"This vital courage-packed story unpacks colonial cruelty and resistance through a boy’s quest to find his captured father in British-occupied India."
August 2025 Book of the Month
Written in a lucid style that’s both inclusively direct and radiant with emotional resonance, Bali Rai’s Escape from Amritsar is set during the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919. As Rai explains in his Historical Note, this was “officially the worst specific atrocity committed by British troops against innocent civilians during the time of Empire”. Such is the situation the novel’s protagonist, Arjan, finds himself in: “I have never understood why they rule us. Surely Indians should rule India? It makes no sense — like a fox taking charge over chickens”.
As a result of rising calls for independence, tensions mount between coloniser troops and the local community, and Arjan’s father is captured, wrongly accused of being a rioter. And so Arjan sets off on a dangerous journey to find him. Early on in his search, Arjan encounters a guardian angel of sorts, who gives him confidence and wise counsel: “Only those who try can ever succeed. Have a go”.
After heeding the woman’s words, Arjan meets and joins forces with a girl who’s been enslaved by bandits. As their perilous race-against-time rises to a heart-pounding climax, readers of eleven upwards will be gripped and roused by the bravery of a young boy, while also being informed about a terribly brutal chapter in British history. On that subject, with British colonialism in India being a KS3 topic, Escape from Amritsar also comes highly recommended for the classroom context.
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