A Golden Age

''A Golden Age'' is the first novel of the Bangladesh-born writer Tahmima Anam. It tells the story of the Bangladesh War of Independence through the eyes of one family. The novel was awarded the prize for Best First Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2008. It was also shortlisted for the 2007 Guardian First Book Award. The first chapter of the novel appeared in the January 2007 edition of ''Granta'' magazine.

In 2022, the novel was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

Synopsis

This historical fiction novel centers the point of view of Rehana Haque, a widowed mother who struggles through Bangladesh Liberation War as both her children become increasingly involved with the war efforts. The book starts with the death of Rehana's husband and losing then regaining the custody of her children, and then fast forwards to the start of the war where Rehana struggles again to hold on to her children. Rehana struggles with understanding passionate nationalism of her children and finding her own personal identity outside of being a mother and where her sense of nationalism fits into that identity. The book ends 16 December 1971, the day that the treaty is signed and Bangladesh gained their independence.

Main characters

* ''Rehana Haque'': Main character; Widow and mother. She grew up in Calcutta, India in poverty after her father, an Indian aristocratic lost their fortune from bad luck and worse advice. She moves to East Pakistan after the marriage to Iqbal Haque. Her native tongue is Urdu.
* ''Sohail'': Rehana's son, university student, joins the Mukti Bahini as a guerilla fighter.
* ''Maya'': Rehana's daughter, university student, moves to Kolkata to be a journalist for the freedom fighters.
* ''Mrs. Chowdhury'': Rehana's friend and neighbor
* ''Silvi'': Mrs. Chowdhury's daughter and a love interest of Sohail's
* ''Sharmeen'': Maya's Friend who was captured by the Pakistan army and kept at the cantonment in Dhaka and raped repeatedly. She and her unborn child died in the hospital.
* ''Iqbal Haque'': Rehana's dead husband
* ''The Major'': Guerrilla commander, injured in secret operation and brought to Rehana's house to be nursed back to health by Rehana and then becomes Rehana's love interest.
* ''Sabeer'': Silvi's fiancé, Pakistan soldier turned freedom fighter for Bengali
* ''Mr and Mrs. Sengupta'': Rehana's Hindu tenants at Shona
* ''Mrs.Rahman and Mrs.Akram'': Rehana's neighbours and fellow 'sewing sisters'
* ''Faiz Haque'' : Rehana's brother in law, Works with the Pakistan army.
* ''Parveen Haque'' : Faiz's wife. She cannot have children so works to have Rehana seen as unfit after the death of Iqbal so that she have get custody of Sohail and Maya.

Background

Inspiration

The author Tahmima Anam was born in Bangladesh, but grew up traveling around the world due to the work of her father, Mahfuz Anam, who is the editor of '' The Daily Star''.

The author was inspired by her family's personal experience of their role in the Bangladesh Independence war. She grew up listening to the stories of her grandmother harboring freedom fighters and hiding guns and weapons in the family garden.

This led the author to be inspired to write about everyday citizens' war experience and small, but meaningful ways they can become revolutionaries.

Historical context

Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan before its fight for independence from Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War.

East Pakistan was formed when British rule ended in India and Pakistan was formed in 1947. The territories were situated on either side of India as the book phrases "a pair of horns" on either side of India. This large separation between the two territories led to East Pakistan to be treated like a colony. The West controlled the political majority and economic distribution of both territories. There were also major cultural differences between the two territories. Pakistan mainly practiced Islam and spoke Urdu