Umme Pritam, in her debut novel, did a fantastic job extracting an account of a female character so vivid that it may dazzle the eyes of the readers.
The book is about so many things. It is built on broken childhood, child abuse, complicated family dynamics, crazy friendship, dreamy romance, and so on. But ultimately it is like a treasure hunt. It is a story of finding a desirable treasure that was lost.
The narrating style is also one of a kind. Three different timelines march ahead parallelly, building up a story and meeting at the end of it. In three different periods, a girl's struggle with different generations and groups of people is portrayed so successfully that everyone can relate to it. Eiliyah is such a familiar character that people barely notice her in real life. With the mastery of her storytelling, Umme Pritam weaved her story so passionately that no effort was required to suspend the disbelief.
On a different note, 'Eiliyah' will trigger childhood nostalgia for some people and leave food for thought to some as it talks about a dark part of society that should be accounted for.
As much as the novel runs around social and personal dynamics, depicting a dreamy love story, how clearly does it define the role of women and girls to make their way into the world? Well, that is for the readers to find out.

Reviewed by Stephanie Chapman for Readers’ Favorite

In Eiliyah, Umme Pritam describes Ellie’s life experience when moving into her father’s home after her mother died. In this book, Ellie recounts her childhood memories to her daughter Sarah. While still young, Ellie had become friends with a boy from the neighboring orphanage. Hussain and Ellie became steadfast friends and spent many nights stargazing. When she had to move away, Ellie helped Hussain escape the abuse he encountered at the orphanage. As a young adult, Ellie’s memories of her father brought back nightmares from her past. Her neighbor Raiyan happened to work at a bookstore. With the support of Areeba and Ishita, Ellie speaks to Raiyan about her hopes and aspirations. However, Raiyan has a secret about his past that he intends to keep hidden.

Umme Pritam creates clear transitions between Ellie speaking to her daughter and her thoughts. In recalling her young adult years, the story is written as though it is happening in the present. The periods noted in the book make the timeline easy to follow. The building tension is felt by Sarah and was relatable. The anger that Ellie had towards her Baba, the name she uses for her father, spills out in a way similar to what I have experienced toward my family members. The end of the book was shocking and I never expected what was finally revealed. I don’t know how I would have handled what Ellie lived through. There were no loose ends in the story and I liked the way Sarah figured out whether her mother ever found Hussain. I would recommend Eiliyah to readers who enjoy a slow-burn romance filled with relatable dialogue and drama.