Evie and Maryam’s Family Tree
Evie and Maryam’s Family Tree won the Guppy Open Submission in 2023, and was published in May 2025. It is the evocative and moving story of two very different girls in contemporary London who discover a family connection stretching back over 100 years before in the faraway country of India, at a tumultuous time in its history; friendships spanning the centuries.
Evie and Maryam are in the same class at school, uneasily thrown together at the start of a new term as they start a project together looking into their family trees. The two girls don’t think they have much in common – Maryam feels like an outsider school with the other girls whose parents all seem to know each other, and Evie thinks Maryam is a bit odd. But when the two girls each find the same mysterious folder containing documents in a secret language that belong to their grandmothers, they discover their ties go back two generations, all the way to India, to partition, and to two best friends who inspired each other more than they ever know. A beautifully told historical family-based exploration of identity, inheritance, difference and friendship.
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Reviews for Evie and Maryam’s Family Tree
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Book of the Week, 1 June 2025. ‘A heartwarming story’
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'New Children's Books We Love' May 2025: ‘A wonderfully original dual narrative story set both in the present day and in India in the years leading up to independence from the British.’ https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book-recommendations/best-new-books/
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Our picks of the best children’s books coming out in Summer 2025: ‘This heartfelt historical story offers a glimpse into colonial India and how the past shapes the present. Highly recommended for UKS2 classes.’ https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/new-book-releases/new-childrens-books-summer-2025/
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The 12 Best New Children’s Books Out in May 2025: https://bookriot.com/new-childrens-books-out-in-may-2025/
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Debut of the Month: ‘A beautifully told historical family-based exploration of identity, inheritance, difference and friendship.’ https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/9781916558410/isbn/Evie-and-Maryams-Family-Tree-by-Janeen-Hayat.html
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‘With a strong historical background, throughout the book, we get flashbacks from the girls’ relatives in India and gain a fascinating insight into Indian life from the 1920’s onwards. This book is an emotive and complex story as we follow Evie and Maryam on their journey. We see their friendship develop with some struggles along the way including elements of bullying within their school group.
Easy to follow and interesting to read, this book explores family identity and how to find your way in the world. This is the story of prevailing friendships and the lasting effects they can have.’ https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/evie-and-maryams-family-tree
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‘This was a beautiful story covering many historical themes: partition of India, WW2 and immigration to the UK. But it's even more than that. There is bullying, kindness, friendship, racism and social attitudes.’ https://www.instagram.com/p/DJeFis3MNqi/
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‘A warm, compelling and fascinating novel about friendship, family and history. Bravo!
Highly recommend for fans of Judi Curtin, Marita Conlon-McKenna and Emma Carroll. Age 10+
9/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️’ https://www.instagram.com/p/DJlePuIswBK/
