A History of Burning

Reviews

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Finalist for the 2023 Governor General's Award for Fiction
Finalist for the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
Winner of the 2024 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
Shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award
Named a Best Book of 2023 by the New York Times, The New Yorker, the Globe and Mail, CBC Books, Kobo Canada, and 49th Shelf

“Remarkable. . . . A haunting, symphonic tale that speaks to the nuanced complexities of class and trauma for this particular family. . . . This demand—and spirit—for bolder storytelling that transcends borders and identities certainly can be found in Oza’s generous novel. More life, more joy and more love amid a shifting and layered landscape of unspeakable loss. It’s all there—the complicated humanity and grief of Oza’s family of characters—for the reader to consider and behold.”
—New York Times Book Review

“A History of Burning is that rare epic that manages to retain both its sweep and its intimacy. Janika Oza has written a generational saga vivid and alive with sensory and historical detail, an excavation of stories often left untold. There is so much insight here into the aftershocks of colonialism and displacement, the way one generation’s decisions, be they voluntary or compelled or somewhere in between, can reverberate through the ages and change lives yet to be lived. This is a beautiful book, unflinching yet deeply engaged with that most human work, the work of forgiveness.” 
—Omar El Akkad, author of American War and What Strange Paradise, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize
 
“Vast and intricate, alight with love and contained fury, A History of Burning is a towering debut by a phenomenal writer. A book I want to press into readers’ hands and discuss for hours.”
—Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning

“Janika Oza boldly navigates her remarkable, symphonic debut through a century of displacement of four generations of an extended Indo-Ugandan family. A History of Burning transmutes these sweeping moments of history into a nuanced and layered tale of loss, rage, and transcendence with its unflinching gaze and layered landscapes to ultimately create a heartbreaking and joyous portrait of a family that has kept each other alive with stories.” —Carol Shields Prize for Fiction jury citation  

“Intimate and epic, A History of Burning effortlessly spans continents, political movements, and generations, while never losing sight of the humans living in these houses of history. Janika Oza bears witness, with rigor, with unflinching beauty, to a vital branch of South Asian diaspora, allowing both for the complexities of colonial violence and the human heart. A hymn for the ancestors, and the bitter, radiant acts of their survival: this book is a triumph.”
—Shruti Swamy, author of The Archer and A House Is a Body
 
“A History of Burning is as transfixing as a flame. Janika Oza writes strikingly and steadily, with exquisite, incisive detail, about making one’s home in imperfect places. This is a book about what it means to be part of a family and lineage, in all its heartbreaking and wondrous complexity.” 
—Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin
 
“Spanning continents and centuries in the lives of four generations of one Indian-Ugandan family, A History of Burning is a riveting testament to home, exile, survival, and inheritance. Janika Oza is a writer you won’t want to miss.”
—Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
 
“[Oza’s] writing reminds people that vulnerability and openness are the only ways we can save each other. A History of Burning is the art we need now.”  
—Megan Giddings, author of Lakewood
 
“With the mastery of a seasoned writer, Janika Oza brings vividly to these pages the experiences of one family over nearly a century of history marked by the rapaciousness of colonialism and post-colonialism violence, while capturing memorably how these multiple brutalities damage the lives of those who are its victims. And yet despite their numerous traumas, displacements, and exploitations, her marvellously alive characters find ways to love and be joyful. Truly an astonishing debut.”
—Shyam Selvadurai, author of Mansions of the Moon

“Ambitious in scope and dazzlingly executed, A History of Burning is a marvellous debut. A tour de force.” 
—Sharon Bala, author of The Boat People

“From India to East Africa, England, and Toronto, Oza’s characters experience the heartbreak of departures and arrivals, communities lost and rebuilt. This striking epic combines powerful characters of different generations, compelling storytelling, dramatic settings and conflicts, and thoughtful explorations of displacement and belonging, family ties, citizenship, loyalty, loss, and resilience.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“In intimate domestic scenes and scenes of societies in turmoil, she displays a sure-handed ability to write at both small and large scale and to portray with deep sympathy the universal human desire to find ‘a little place to simply exist, freely, and with dignity.’ An ambitious family drama skillfully explores the bonds of kinship and the yearning for peace and security.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Oza’s impressive debut spans four continents and five generations of an Indian family as they’re forced to migrate again and again for political and economic reasons. . . .”
—Publishers Weekly Expand reviews