Written by Lesley D. Biswas
From the Chronicles of Courage Series
Reviewed by Jennifer Thomas and Sujata Noronha
A historical fiction set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh war of 1971
| Publishing Date: 2026
ISBN: 978-0-143-47671-9 Page Count: 150 Publisher: Duckbill (An Imprint of Penguin Random House India) Review Posted Online: October 2026 QBR Reviews Issue: Q3 2026 Categories: Historical Fiction | West Bengal| Refugees |
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We picked up Caught in the Crossfire with a lot of anticipation. Lesley Biswas’ previous historical fiction A Conspiracy in Calcutta was a memorable read and we looked forward to a well told story in this new addition to Chronicles of Courage series by Duckbill (An Imprint of Penguin Random House India). While the Songs of Freedom series is set during the Independence Struggle, this series as per the publisher note explores post-independence movements that shaped modern India.
India is currently experiencing an important moment with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to allegedly update voter lists. For us, as readers and educators, the context of this story assumed special significance as it could present an opportunity to complicate ideas of nationality and citizenship, going beyond nationalist narratives of belonging with young readers. It was with this hope that we turned to the story. Would the book compel readers to think about humanity, brotherhood and the continued impact of historical events on our present? Does a book like this help us understand why othering is more common than including in modern India?
We invite you to keep reading to find out.
The story is set in Salt Lake Township, Calcutta. It is 1971. When the story opens, the Bangladesh War strikes a distant discordant note in the background. We are quickly introduced to a cast of characters that includes the protagonist, Dhiman, a 10 year old, and his family of five adults – his mother and father; his uncle (father’s brother) and aunt and their daughter. The plot moves swiftly and the subtext indicates the social location of this upwardly mobile Hindu family. We are presented with the travails of a joint family caught in a web of typical familial issues – sibling rivalry, patriarchy, friction between sisters -in-law, and economic hardships. Almost all issues are linked to unspoken boundaries of social class being strained through marriage. We slowly learn that Dhiman’s parents did not have a traditional, arranged marriage. Dhiman’s mother, a school teacher, is not liked by the uncle and aunt. As the story progresses, they take on personas of unhappy, tyrant parents-in-law. Another monster slowly raises its head and enters the narrative – dowry harassment.
Thrown into this universe of troubled adults is young Dhiman. Everyone wishes that he lives a protected life – Dhiman isn’t allowed to leave home unsupervised, he has very few friends and he isn’t trusted to make any decisions. What emerges is the portrait of a lonely boy who is timid and prejudiced – unaware of how the views of the adults in his life are colouring his views too. This is first revealed in his encounter with Ruhul, a Bangladeshi refugee living in a refugee camp near his house. Ruhul, the only outsider who comes in contact with the family, is Muslim. All characters, including Dhiman harbour antagonistic feelings towards him, initially. Gradually a few plot twists lead to a budding friendship between Dhiman and Ruhul. Ruhul is portrayed as an independent, young boy who is incredibly brave in the face of death and disaster. He is quite the polar opposite of Dhiman, who lives a safe and harboured life.
As Dhiman’s inner world becomes more distraught, his outer world too becomes chaotic. The war comes closer home when his father is commissioned to travel to Dhaka to cover the war in East Pakistan. Tensions are on the rise at home and one fine day his mother goes missing. Timid Dhiman, undergoes an unlikely transformation over the course of a few pages and he embarks on a trip to East Pakistan to find his father.
This change in the protagonist is abrupt and unbelievable. We felt there were many missed opportunities in character development not only for the protagonist but for the supporting cast as well. Dhiman’s parents remain cardboard characters, his aunt and uncle are shown as particularly vicious and Ruhul is stereotyped as the ‘poor refugee’, making us view him with pity rather than empathy. The author also missed to foreshadow the change in Dhiman in the second half of the story – his confidence and bravery come as a shocking transformation.
When the plot shifts to Dhaka in the latter part of the novel, there is a genuine attempt at world building that is closer to historical facts. There are many references interwoven into the plot – the Naxalbari movement in Bengal, the atrocities of Yahya Khan in Dhaka, the role of the Mukti Bahini in Bangladesh’s freedom movement. However, these names / terms are just dropped here and there, without ever fully dwelling on them. The historical note included at the end of the story could have been more detailed, explaining the historical import of certain terms like “razakar” amongst other elaborations ?
The narrative arc of the story is fast-paced, often not leaving much room for contemplation. In many places, we felt that it read more as a script for a film or OTT series rather than wholesome writing for children. We appreciate the attempt to introduce children to historical events beyond the Freedom Struggle in India. There is a huge gap in children’s literature, no doubt. But the way the characters are drawn up and the way the story is narrated, left us wondering what is the imagination of the child-reader and their mind?
We discussed this book with three 12-13 year olds who shared some thoughtful insights about the story and its craft. They found the story premise to be interesting, especially understanding Dhiman’s social world. Some of the names of leaders and historical events sparked interest as they had encountered them in their history textbooks. However, they felt the writing was often inconsistent and patchy. Why couldn’t the historical information have been woven into the story more carefully, they asked. They felt a lot of information was “dumped” on them without compelling them to make connections. They soon realised that they could gloss over these bits (and they did) as it didn’t seem vital to understanding the plot. A revealing example of this was the fact that they kept referring to “Ruhul” as “Rahul” and didn’t stop to think of his connection to East Pakistan till we had a conversation together. Once they realised that Ruhul could be a muslim they picked an interesting nuance. Two of the readers, who identified as muslims themselves, found it odd that the first thing Ruhul does when he meets Dhiman’s mother is to touch her feet. Why did the author choose this as the introductory moment between Ruhul and Dhiman’s mother?
Deep readers often look for nuances and realise that seeing the world in black and white is quite misleading. Unfortunately, this book didn’t offer opportunities to dwell on the more fragile aspects of war, its psychological impact on the interior world of children, and the lasting import of war on geo-politics of a region. This was an opportunity to introduce readers to nuances of the historical tensions between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the more amicable relations India has shared with Bangladesh. Given contemporary geopolitics and the Special Intensive Revisions in India, we felt like this was an invaluable opportunity lost.
Caught in the Crossfire attempts to do something significant by shining light on an overlooked chapter of South Asian history and putting it into the hands of children. It is a story that goes beyond the Freedom Struggle.The historical canvas presented is vast and it doesn’t bring to life the characters and their dilemmas with a tenderness or with enough depth. We are left with a rather dramatic denouement, the plot and resolution hijacking critical thinking around the many social issues that the story presents its readers with. Children who encounter this book may pick up a few things about the Bangladesh War of 1971, without fully realising why it mattered, what it meant for India to be a country that provided refuge and the human complexity involved in it all.
We hope future stories in this series will give time – for characters to breathe, for history to settle into the bones of the story and for children to be trusted with ambiguity.
Other Books
- A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, Clarion Books, 2011
- Amil and the After by Veera Hiranandani, Penguin Random House, 2024
- Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2011
- Parvana’s Journey by Deborah Ellis, Douglas & McIntyre, 2002
- Postcard from the Lushai Brigade by Hannah Lalhanpuii, Duckbill Books (Penguin Random House), 2023
- The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani, Kokila (Penguin Random House), 2018
- When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, Dial Books, 2020