Evie and Maryam's Family Tree

By Author / Illustrator

Janeen Hayat

Genre

Historical Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Guppy Publishing

ISBN

9781916558410

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

08-05-2025

Synopsis

Evie and Maryam are in the same class at school, uneasily thrown together at the start of a new term as they start a project together looking into their family trees. The two girls don't think they have much in common - Maryam feels like an outsider, and Evie thinks Maryam is a bit odd. But when the two girls each find the same mysterious folder containing documents in a secret language that belong to their grandmothers, they discover their ties go back two generations, all the way to India, to partition, and to two best friends who inspired each other more than they ever know.

A beautifully told historical family-based exploration of identity, inheritance, difference and friendship.

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Reviews

Jane

There are really four girls who are centre stage in this story; two from the present day and two living in India towards the end of the British Empire. They are connected across the centuries by their grandmothers' coded letters and by a spider's web of complex interactions spanning different time zones, cultures and politics. Friendship between the girls is challenged by racism and bullying; international relations between Britain, India - and later, Germany - by the troubled course of history.

At all levels, the characters in this gripping drama must choose: to seek understanding and be open to a different social order; to be defensive; to settle for the status quo. Not easy, but the way in which Hayat's characters struggle is part of the story's appeal.

It's not clear until right at the end whether and how things will resolve. Will the coded letters reveal their secrets, will the pendant be found and restored to its rightful owner, will friendships be broken or mended?

Evie and Maryam's Family Tree is a skilfully woven story which is hard to categorise (Mystery, Contemporary, Historical Fiction?), and is undoubtedly one for the KS2 library. It is quite long and complex for a class read, but deserves to be recommended to a wide readership, especially where there's a recognised need to 'reflect realities' in the library stock, so that children from all backgrounds can see themselves in a book.

352 pages / Reviewed by Jane Rew, school librarian