What is the summary of the book A Beautiful Lie?

A Beautiful Lie Summary

Author: Irfan Master

Type: Historical Fiction

Characters : Bilal ,Manjeet, Saleem, and Chota

Subject : The main character is Bilal, a boy determined to protect his dying father from the news of Partition news that he knows will break his father’s heart.With great spirit and determination, and with the help of his good friends, Bilal persuades others to collude with him in this deception, even printing false pages of the local newspaper to hide the ravages of unrest from his father.All that Bilal wants is for his father to die in peace.But that means Bilal has a very complicated relationship with the truth.

Summary

t’s a done deal partition will soon divide India into two countries mainly along religious lines, India for Hindus and Sikhs, Pakistan for Muslims but Bilal’s dying father remains serenely confident that his beloved India will take another path and Bilal, 13, can’t bear for him to die disillusioned.

With three loyal friends Chota, Saleem and Manjee Bilal hatches a plan to convince his widowed father that India will remain whole. Bilal’s father is highly respected in their Gujarati town, and his friends refuse to be left out of the loop: doctor, schoolmaster, printer and more; but Rafeeq, Bilal’s Muslim activist older brother, opposes the endeavor.Rising tensions among groups that have mingled peacefully for centuries spill over, shaping the futures of adults and children.Bilal and his friends can’t avert the coming violence and losses; their path has been set. More historical and cultural context would have been helpful, but the vivid setting, appealing characters, humor and pathos largely offset this debut’s weaknesses.Master declines to shape his tale to fit the triumphalist hero’s journey template; his heroes stubbornly holding onto their ideals and high aspirations, even after they’ve been superseded by a shabbier realite are on a different journey, every bit as riveting.