I preferred “The Sisters Strange” to “The Furies” due to its strong supernatural elements. I have a soft spot for scary tales during the Halloween season, so I am happy to report that John Connolly and his trusty protagonist do not disappoint. At the outset, Hajari explains that he is seeking to understand the experience of partition, not to lay blame. To that end, he works to maintain his objectivity. Everyone involved made mistakes, but Hajari does a good job of showing those mistakes in context, providing some understanding of why they occurred.

Responsibility for events is placed on both Nehru and Jinnah for ineptitude, arrogance, prejudice and personal animosity

The title is misleading - "The Deadly legacy of India's Partition" it should be history instead of legacy. From the description on goodreads - "From jihadi terrorism to nuclear proliferation, the searing tale told in Midnight’s Furies explains all too many of the headlines we read today." No it does not. It is not an analysis, it is not a book that explores causes of events, it is a chronicle, a narrative history.

Because this was so crazy, I thought I’d mention it as well: another instance of important history left out, was the relationship between Nehru and the British Viceroy of India’s Wife. While the author vaguely hints at it by mentioning Nehru’s letters to her had become more romantic and fanciful, I think it bears mentioning that the relationship was confirmed, and that the Viceroy (who was supposed to be impartial) readily accepted his wife’s extramarital partners into his “family”. Jinnah’s mention of this relationship in the book is used to further evidence of his “bitter paranoia”, but clearly he had a point. Women figure predominantly in both novels, Charlie being caught up in issues/problems/dilemmas involving women. (Not romantically or sexually, though he does have a woman friend who I'd like to see him get it on with more than he does!) Charlie Parker, former police, now PI working mostly out of a bar, takes on some seriously weird and unusual problems in both novels. In the first: It was an oversimplified solution to divide Hindus and Muslims by area, arrived at by mutual distrust and in a rush to resolution Fates and Furies': Lauren Groff's love story has a furious subtext". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 26 September 2015. The end of the British Empire in India is a truly remarkable historical moment. When the hour hand reached twelve on August 15, 1947, two-hundred years of British rule ended, and two new countries – India and Pakistan – came into being. Shortly before this birth, India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, stood before parliament and famously spoke of a “tryst with destiny,” an awakening “to life and freedom.” It all seemed so hopeful: the peaceful overthrow of a longstanding colonial power.My only complaint, as I wrote above, is that some of the plot is unbelievable. There are some coincidental meetings between characters when I had to scream No way, in my mind. I understand that it made things more interesting but it moved the story more towards the fantasy realm. As the story progressed, there were several big developments. Cyril eventually does find love and is able to live openly as a gay man. However, it was a long, slow journey. Other "big" events along the way, failed to elicit much interest for me. I barely batted an eye as Julian's kidnappers were sending home body parts. That was another clear indication that I just wasn't feeling it. Early-on, Cyril had my sympathy. He was an outsider, even within his own home. His adoptive parents were deplorable at worst and indifferent at best. They provided for Cyril financially, but constantly reminded him that he wasn't a "real" Avery. They only laid claim to him when it suited their personal interests, such as when his adoptive father faced jail time and wanted to appear more sympathetic to the jury.

At least in this account, it's a Frankenstein or "Sorcerer's Apprentice" story -- Jinnah and Nehru were basically decent people who started a process they immediately lost control of. Overheated rhetoric led to violence, which lead to ill-feeling, hysterical (exaggerated) press coverage, reprisals, and atrocity. It's startling and a more than a little scary how fast things got totally out of control and the extreme levels of brutality that became normalized. Internal conflicts and misadventures with India would lead to control of Pakistan by the military and the loss of Bengal in 1971In the second and titular story, Charlie is hired by a woman who is trying to recover some items stolen from her, items that had once belonged to her dead daughter. The thieves are staying at The Braycott Hotel, a hotel noted mainly for its discretion. As a result, no children are allowed so why, suddenly, are patrons complaining that their sleep is being disturbed by the laughter of a child in the hall late at night?