House of Glass Hearts begins with Maera and her mother Ammi as immigrants from Pakistan who settled in the United States. They have a distant relationship and refrain from talking about her elder brother, Asad, who disappeared a few years ago, while they were visiting her maternal home in Karachi.
One morning, out of nowhere, a greenhouse appears in their backyard identical to the one at her grandfather’s house. Coincidentally this happened right after Maera’s grandfather’s death. No one believed her when she expressed that strange things were happening. Frustrated with getting no answers and tired of burying the past, Maera sets on a mission along with her friends Sara, Jimmy, and Rob, order to unveil the secrets not knowing what the consequences would be.
The book has a good beginning with the mystery built around Maera’s grandfather’s journal, which is found magically in her room. It talks about the horrors of the post-independence time in India and the partition with Pakistan. There are diary entries by her grandfather which are his experiences of losing his father to World War II and him meeting the love of his life.
As the story proceeds, Maera enters the greenhouse and feels the presence of her brother whom she had lost years ago in Pakistan. Her friends accompany her, but they keep this a secret from her mother and her aunt. Eventually, they realize what the greenhouse had been inhabiting.
The story runs parallel between the past and the present and cannot be contained in one genre as it ranges from history to drama, and folklore. Unfortunately, the present narration lacks impact. As a reader, I constantly felt that I needed to know more about the past and the present lingered too much. At times I felt there was too much description and it was not relevant to the main story.
This is Leila Siddique’s debut novel. Although she has done a decent job the story has roughness around the edges. The relationships could’ve used more knitting together and more background could’ve been provided. Overall, I recommend it as a one-time read on a rainy day with some warm coffee.