Chinatown Days by Rita Chowdhury

As a literary masterpiece, Chinatown Days received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award. Set in the nineteenth century, the novel sheds light on the plight of Chinese indentured laborers brought to Assam and West Bengal by the British East India Company. Despite facing immense hardship, Mei Lin, a descendant of slave Ho Han, finds solace in her life with Pulok Barua. However, as the Sino-Indian war breaks out in 1962, Mei Lin is unjustly deported to Maoist China by a close family member. Braving a foreign land, she and other Chinese Indians must now struggle to survive. Will Mei Lin ever be able to reunite with her husband and return to her hometown of Makum? Gripping and poignant, this novel exposes the plight of the Chinese Indian community, marginalized and forgotten due to intolerance and prejudice.