A House in Lahore - Growing Up Jewish in Pakistan

What if the only home you knew... wasn't home at all?

Hazel Kahan’s extraordinary memoir begins with her parents - two young Jewish doctors fleeing Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy - only to be branded "enemy aliens" by the British in India during WWII. Interned for years with their children, they rebuild their lives in newly formed Pakistan, clinging to hope amidst chaos.

Growing up Jewish in post-Raj Pakistan, Hazel navigated a world of contradictions: cherished yet stateless, at home yet always an outsider. Through intimate boarding school letters, the family clung together across distances - yet words couldn't always bridge the fractures of displacement.

Decades later, haunted by her father’s death, Hazel returns to Lahore after forty years. She walks streets heavy with memory, searching for the house of her childhood... and discovers a past more alive than she ever imagined.

Why readers are moved:

"Having been interned myself and grown up between worlds, Hazel’s journey to Lahore enchanted me. Was Pakistan ever truly her ‘home’? You’ll wonder long after reading."
Tom Scovel, author of The Year China Changed

"A vertiginous, beautiful quest. For all that shatters - prejudice, upheaval, loss - light persists in her words. Proof that humanity can outlast the inhumane."
Joseph Mackin, author of Pretend All Your Life

"Unflinchingly shows how persecution shapes families - and shatters stereotypes. A rich, necessary piece of history."
Nora Kramer, Youth Empowered Action Camp founder

"Weaves complex history with heart. Hazel’s investigative talent shines - whether on the page or behind a radio mic!"
Jim Motavalli, WPKN-FM host & author

Pages: 244
Author: Hazel Selzer Kahan
Format: Hardback
Language: English