When theJapanese army invaded Burmaduring World War II, 10-year-old PremSharma and his family were among the thousands of refugees who fled tosafety in India.Not long afterwards they found themselves embroiled in another bloody conflict:the violent partition of Pakistanand Indiaand the latter’s hard-won independence from century-long colonial rule.
A Milwaukeenative who recently retired from his post as associate dean at Marquette’sSchool of Dentistry,Sharma has penned a trilogy of fictional works based on his experiences in Burma (also known as Myanmar). The first part of thetrilogy, Mandalay’s Child, waspublished in 1999, and its themes of suffering, cultural understanding andcoming of age were considered so absorbing by UW-Milwaukee English lecturerMariann Mariss that she distributed hundreds of copies of the novels toMilwaukee Public Schools students as part of a reading circle program.
Mandalay’s Child spans from 1941 to 1947, chronicling the life of the Laal family, whichflees from Burma to live inrelative poverty in Indiaand becomes enmeshed in India’sstruggle for independence. Like Sharma himself, one of the lead charactersfinds herself drawn to Gandhi’s message of peace and equality.
The second novel in the trilogy, Karma’s Embrace, was published in 2003and served as a prequel, setting the stage for the characters in the firstnovel. The final novel in the series, Escapefrom Burma, was published last year and is based on the true story of Sandraand Mya Swe’s attempt to leave Burmain the 1960s as the country transitioned from democratic to military rule,sparking a series of uprisings.
Sharma will deliver a talk at the Harry W.Schwartz Bookshop in BrookfieldJuly 31 at 7 p.m. He will be joined by Sandra and Mya Swe.
Also this week Milwaukeenative and co-owner of Hama’sRestaurant Leslie Kagen reads from her new novel, Land of One Hundred Wonders. It may sound like a work of magicalrealism set in some exotic locale, but it actually takes place in the smallfictional town of Cray Ridge and features as its main protagonist a determinedyoung woman bent on pursuing a career as an investigative reporter despitebeing deemed “not quite right” by her grandfather due to a brain injury shesustained as a child. Kagen will appear at the Harry W. Schwartz bookstore in Mequon Aug. 5 at 7 p.m.
