A Sensitive Rendering

I read Moni Mohsin’s The End of Innocence at one sitting. This debut novel is a sensitive rendering of a childhood friendship between two young girls in Pakistan, from different social realms. It is an evocative description of the pains of growing up, and the concomitant loss of a naive belief in the inherent fairness of the adult world. Our first person child narrator is Laila Azeem. She is eight years old, studies in a boarding school in Lahore, and is recuperating from an attack of typhoid. Laila is visiting her grandmother, the widowed Sardar Begum, who manages the family’s ancestral property at Sabzbagh in West Punjab. Sardar Begum is in turn looked after by her elderly maid Kameez. Laila idolizes the hazel-eyed, brown eyed Rani, who is Kameez’s fifteen-year old granddaughter. She will do anything to retain the older girl’s friendship even if it entails lying, and spying on Rani’s behalf. An avid fan of the Enid Blyton adventure series, Laila decides to name their partnership as the ‘Terrific Two’, best friends who are sworn to secrecy and eternal friendship.