GenevaBookClub: Khushwant Singh digs into the Partition of India with a deep local focus, providing a human dimension which brings to the event a sense of reality, horror, and believability. Summer of 1947: Partition does not mean much to the Sikhs and Muslims of Mano Majra, a village on the border of India and Pakistan. Then, a local money-lender is murdered, and suspicion falls upon Juggut Singh, the village gangster who is in love with a Muslim girl. When a train arrives, carrying the bodies of dead Sikhs, the village is transformed into a battlefield, and neither the magistrate nor the police are able to stem the rising tide of violence. Amidst conflicting loyalties, it is left to Juggut Singh to redeem himself and reclaim peace for his village. In a relatively short book, the reader gets to know a lot of characters in detail. Examination of the varied groups of people increases cultural and social understanding of that time and place & shows that the blame couldn't be placed on any one group.