Evie and Maryam may sit on the same table in school but on the surface of it they have very little in common.  Maryam keeps her head down, works hard and prefers spending time with her family.  Evie’s friendship group is out-going and confident – their parents are all part of the same friendship circle and they’ve known each other for years – though sometimes Evie feels like she doesn’t fit in anymore.

When the two are reluctantly paired together for a school project – researching their family background – the girls discover they each have a copy of a mysterious folder called “Family Recipes”, written in a language neither of them understand.  As they try to decode the writing and work out how they both come to have the same folder, the girls uncover a story from the past, and from across the sea, which links them together in a way that seems impossible.

This wonderfully written, warm and empathic debut was inspired by Janeen’s own research into her family’s history; her father was born the year before partition and had to leave southern India with his family during this turbulent time. This led Janeen to question what might happen if, years later, future generations are brought together by coincidence.  Evie and Maryam’s Family Tree is about family history, friendship and finding your place in the world.

Janeen Hayat