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Publisher Profile

Alexandre Mallorie

Eighteen-year-old HANZILAH was born and raised in Alabama but his family hails from Kashmir. His father is a physician who has set up a charitable medical hospital near the Line of Control, the border that divides Pakistan-held Kashmir and Indian-held Kashmir. In 1993, Hanzilah’s elder sister, ALIYAH, gets engaged to a young Kashmiri doctor; the family travels to Kashmir for the wedding. While visiting, Hanzilah volunteers at his father’s hospital and discovers that his best friend there, JAWAD, has Cystic Fibrosis. After his sister’s wedding, a group of severely injured men arrive at his father’s hospital for treatment; they are Kashmiri freedom fighters who attacked the Indian army in Indian-administered Kashmir. When the Indian army discovers the guerrilla fighters are there, they bomb the hospital, the main market street, and parts of the village. Hundreds of people die. The home of his best friend, Jawad, and the girl whom he loves, IMANI, is directly hit by the Indian shelling. Jawad’s wife and his parents are killed during the attack; Imani is gravely injured and expected to die. Hanzilah, Jawad, and his friends decide to join the war in Indian-occupied Kashmir to seek justice. Hanzilah and Jawad are trained as guerilla fighters; after eight weeks, they infiltrate Indian-occupied Kashmir to carry out ambushes and attacks. As the winter begins, Jawad gets sick, so Hanzilah and Jawad stay behind in a safe house. When they hear on the radio that their friends have been captured by Indian soldiers, Jawad and Hanzilah attack the Indian soldiers in an attempt to free their friends. Jawad is shot and killed. The harsh Himalayan winter forces the remaining fighters to stay in a safe house until spring. While there, another small group of guerilla soldiers joins them. Once the spring arrives, they carry out ambushes and attacks as they head to the capital of Indian-occupied Kashmir, Srinagar. When they arrive in the capital, they travel through the city as civilians and observe a peaceful demonstration. The Indian soldiers directly shoot and kill some of the protestors, including children. Hanzilah and his group decide to attack the Indian soldiers to seek vengeance for their deaths. Hanzilah is severely injured and many of his friends die during their brazen attack; the survivors return to Pakistan. Hanzilah says goodbye to his friends and travels to Lahore, where his uncle resides. When he arrives, his family is overjoyed to find out he is still alive. He is then shocked to discover that Imani is still alive and has been adopted by his uncle. He marries Imani, returns to the United States, and becomes a physician like his father. In 2008, a devastating earthquake hits Kashmir and nearly 100,000 people die. Hanzilah returns to Kashmir after 15 years and volunteers with a relief agency treating the survivors of the earthquake.

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