THE HISTORY TEACHER OF LAHORE - A NOVEL

From Sialkot to Lahore, Arif Ali makes the journey to realize his dream of beinga history teacher. In Lahore, his life is upended by dramatic events unfolding inlight of a General wielding far-right power after the ruthless assassination of aPrime Minister. As a teacher, he resists the decree to teach a false history, and asa poet, articulates his emotions on unrequited love and the turbulent politicalatmosphere.Arif’s impotent rage towards the increasing religious intolerance aroundhim compels him to join Kamal and Nadira in their cloak-and-dagger acts ofresistance. And, while he presciently awaits the dreaded storm of sectarianviolence to break, in the wake of the General’s legacy of a brutal military rule,he finds love that hitherto he could only imagine through Urdu poetry.With Roohi by his side, Arif finds his muse, but watches with deep frustrationthe public floggings, persecution of minorities, and the societal divide createdby increasing fundamentalism. When a student in his class is falsely accusedof blasphemy, he decides to save him from being arrested and embarks on adangerous mission that lands him in the middle of sectarian clashes. Will hesucceed in saving the boy and making it out alive, to live the life he dreamt of asa history teacher in Lahore?Tahira Naqvi recreates Lahore of the 1980s in this moving political novel,showing eloquently the struggle between a besieged democracy on the one handand thriving cultural traditions of Urdu poetry on the other.