Janeen Hayat’s excellent debut novel, Evie and Maryam's Family Tree, tells the stories of four girls, two of whom live in present day England, two who meet in Delhi in 1929. Thrown together to work on a school project researching family trees, Evie and Maryam discover they have a shared history dating back to their grandmothers and The Partition of India. This is a beautifully told historical family-based exploration of identity, inheritance, difference and friendship.
Evie and Maryam's Family Tree is our Debut of the Month, and we were thrilled to get the chance to ask Janeen a bit more about this fascinating novel.
Q. You cover a lot of different themes in your book, how did the idea start?
A. There were a lot of things brewing at once that I wanted to write about, and they all turned out to be related. I have three kids who all go to a big London state school, and I started to notice the cliques that exist, and how children sometimes inherit their parents' friendships. My Pakistani cousins had also recently moved to the UK, and their kids were also going to a big London state school. I thought about the fact that if they went to the same school, they could operate in their own spheres -- ours, middle-class, British, and a bit arty; theirs immigrant, Muslim, and family-oriented -- and never realise that they were connected. I wanted to write about those overlapping histories and how they carry into the present day.
Q. It’s partly a historical novel, what research did you do?
A. A few years ago, my brother and I bought our dad a gift of this programme that sent him a question every week for him to answer in an email. At the end, all of the answers were compiled into his life story. My dad's answers to the questions were a complete surprise to me -- he was born in India the year before Partition, but never made a big deal about how difficult that period was. There was lots of joy in his stories too -- how much he loved sport, what a deep bond he had with his siblings, and how closely knit his neighbourhood was. So, my research started with my dad. But of course, he was young in 1950s Karachi and I was writing about 1930s Delhi. He tried to remember everything his parents told him about India as it was before he was born and that gave me some snapshots. He also asked his friends -- the aunties and uncles I'd grown up with -- and it was really fun to hear their families' stories too.
I also knew I needed to do some proper research, and Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India's Capital by Rotem Geva was a great help to me; Professor Geva was also kind enough to read some of my chapters, which was very generous since she didn't know me from a hole in the wall. I also did a lot of reading on swadeshi (essentially a civil disobedience movement promoting the use of Indian-made goods and a boycott of foreign products) through blogs, articles, and even the encyclopaedia. Once upon a time, I did a gender studies degree, so I found the primacy of women in the independence movement really interesting. There's so much important and fascinating history I learned that didn't make it into the book, but I was conscious that it's a novel, not a textbook.
Q. How important was it to you to explain what happened in India in the last century?
A. There's been a lot of progress in the UK toward broadening how we teach history, but it's shocking to me how little people are taught about the partition of India. And when they do learn about it, it's in a silo: the Second World War is one thing; Indian independence is another. No one really thinks about how these things were basically happening at the same time and were definitely related. The diversion of food and resources from India to support the war effort gave urgency to the independence movement. Meanwhile, Indian soldiers were fighting and dying in the war. We also fail to appreciate the link between history and what's happening in the present day. For example, the conflict between India and Pakistan in Kashmir has to do, in large part, with the randomness in how India was partitioned. So, I think it's very important -- understanding those connections gives us a fuller picture of the world we live in today.
Q. Are any of the characters inspired by people you know? Are there writers or books that inspired you?
A. All of them were inspired by someone in my life, or a combination of people. Evie and Maryam are each different parts of me - I was awkward, academic, and a little bit poorer than my classmates like Maryam, but now I suppose I'm more like Evie's middle-class London parents. I also took parts of Evie from my eldest daughter, who is quite creative and restless. Arabella -- who is a really horrible character -- is a mashup of every mean kid I ever knew in school. She was very satisfying to write.
I loved stories about friendship and real life when I was young, but sometimes I wanted those books to be more like my life. As an adult, reading Zadie Smith was a revelation. White Teeth rang truer to me than any novel I'd read to that point -- the way she writes about the tribes of London, and the tension children of immigrants feel between duty and assimilation, were versions of things I'd experienced. I suppose I can see the influence of both Judy Blume and Zadie Smith in my writing, and it will be the joy of my life if neither of them are insulted by that!
Q. This is your debut novel. Can you tell us about the editing process and how your editors helped you make the book as good as it is?
A. I feel so lucky to have worked with Guppy Books. Bella, the publisher, was so respectful of what I was trying to do and never demanded anything. But, no matter how highly you rate your own writing, people in the business have probably read more books than you and sometimes they have really good ideas. The first version of Evie and Maryam had more of a plotline around Kathy and Safia -- the great-grandmothers -- as adults. I loved those parts, but Bella rightly pointed out that it's alienating for children to be put in an adult point of view. It was a real 'kill your darlings' moment when I realised she was right.
That was the main revision, and then the manuscript went to a copy editor, Hannah, who was nothing short of extraordinary. She managed to cut loads of small, useless stuff that I didn't miss at all. There is nothing like a fresh pair of hawk eyes to say 'Is this sentence needed?'.
Q. Are you writing a new story?
A. I am -- an Evie and Maryam sequel!
Q. Was it always your dream to be a writer?
A. Always -- and I always was writing, but it took me a long time to try to do it professionally. I was a lawyer, then a teacher, and I currently work for an education charity in my day job, but that whole time the idea of writing a book was in the back of my mind as a dream. I realised one day that it would only ever be a dream unless I actually put pen to paper.
Q. Any tips or advice for fellow writers trying to get their first novel published?
A. My advice is something I'm sure you've heard before: keep at it. Rejection is part of the process. I don't think it's necessarily the most talented writers who end up getting published -- it's those with a bit of talent, a willingness to work hard, and some great luck. The more you keep with it, the more likely it is that the luck will find you. Something that's really helped me is having a nice group of writer friends to help keep you accountable.
Q. How did it feel to hold the finished copy of your debut novel in your hand - and how did you celebrate?
A. I was expecting it to be sort of anticlimactic when the book came out, but it really wasn't. Seeing it on the shelf of an actual bookstore was really emotional -- and it was extra special because I had my kids with me. They helped put 'signed by the author' stickers on, and then we got a cup corn in the mall. There were lots of other lovely treats and celebrations with friends, but that cup corn will stick with me.
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