Coram Boy

by Jamila Gavin

Published 1 September 2000
In the mid-eighteenth century, an unsavory character and his simpleton son become involved in the lives of a wealthy English family when that family's eldest son is disinherited because of his love of music.

pt. 1

A beautiful new edition of the first volume in the Surya Trilogy by Whitbread award-winning author Jamila Gavin.

India, August 1947: Fleeing from their burnt-out village as civil war rages in the Punjab, Marvinder and Jaspal are separated from their mother, Jhoti. Marvinder has already saved her brother's life once, but now they both face a daily fight for survival.

Together they escape across India and nearly halfway around the world to England, to find a father they hardly know in a new, hostile culture…

A powerful story of culture, class, family and faith set against the backdrop of Indian independence and the Partition of India and Pakistan. Perfect for fans of The Bone Sparrow, Morris Gleitzman’s Once, and Katherine Rundell’s The Wolf Wilder.

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Jamila was born in Mussoorie, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Her Indian father and English mother met as teachers in Iran and by the age of eleven she had lived in an Indian palace in the Punjab, a flat in a bombed out street in Shepherd’s Bush, a bungalow in Poona, near Mumbai and a terraced house in Ealing. She settled into a little town cottage in Stroud, Gloucestershire twenty five years ago but she still loves to travel. She won the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year award with her book Coram Boy in 2000.


The Singing Bowls

by Jamila Gavin

Published June 1989

pt. 2

The Eye of the Horse

by Jamila Gavin

Published July 1994
The dramatic second story in the Surya Trilogy by Whitbread award-winning Jamila Gavin, author of Coram Boy.


India 1948. "The light has gone out of our world." Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated. In India, chaos and turmoil reign. In England, Jaspal and Marvinder's father is in prison. Jaspal cannot forgive him, and longs to return to his village in the Punjab where he feels he belongs. Marvinder has found friends, her first love, and her gift as a violinist. But how can she ignore her mother's voice calling her back to India? She is torn between two worlds.


A story of the search for reconciliation, the sequel to Wheel of Surya is a beautifully crafted story sets against the backdrop of Indian independence and the Partition of India and Pakistan. No children's books about India conveys these issues and themes with the effortless ease of Jamila Gavin. Her diverse voice is the perfect introduction to this period of history, for fans of The Bone Sparrow, Morris Gleitzman's Once, and Katherine Rundell's The Wolf Wilder.

The Wormholers

by Jamila Gavin

Published June 1996

pt. 3

The Track of the Wind

by Jamila Gavin

Published 14 August 1997

The dramatic final volume in the Wheel of Surya trilogy by Whitbread award-winning author of Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin.

In 1947 India is rocked by the Independence movement and partition with Pakistan. Their lives disrupted by violence, Jaspal and Marvinder are sent from their Indian village to find their father, who is a student in England. In The Track of the Wind, Jaspal and Marvinder are reunited with their mother in India, but their fight for independence goes on.

A story touching on culture, class, faith and family set against the backdrop of Indian independence and the Partition of India and Pakistan. No children’s books about India conveys these issues and themes with the effortless ease of Jamila Gavin. Her diverse voice is the perfect introduction to this period of history, for fans of The Bone Sparrow, Morris Gleitzman's Once, and Katherine Rundell's The Wolf Wilder.