here Cicadas Sing by M Athar Tahir’s is a fascinating and instructive novel. Though set in Malaya, its characters and the plot evoke a distinctly Pakistani world. The novel is direct and simple in tone, but gradually reveals a depth beneath its apparent simplicity. As the saying goes, if the water is calm, one should not underestimate its depth.

The novel bears some resemblance to Sophie’s World, in which the narrator is also a child who calmly reveals philosophical secrets to the reader. The readers encounter a similar situation and style in this novel. A fourteen-year-old girl narrator explores the world of philosophy; whenever she encounters something confusing or troubling, she asks a question to make the idea clear and understandable. Where Cicadas Sing follows a similar pattern and structure. When the narrator encounters difficult or unfamiliar words, she says, “It’s a new word.” These become building blocks of vocabulary. In each chapter, a new word is introduced to help children build their vocabulary and understand the world around them.

The novel speaks to “the real” rather than offering symbolic or imaginative representations of society through illusory narratives. It uses some figures of speech, but they are local and easy to understand. The novel is not merely the story of a Pakistani-Malayan family; rather, it is the story of every individual born and raised in Pakistan.

The novel is refreshing and revealing in the way it captures the small details of a typical Pakistani joint family, where complaints, gratitude, admiration and fear exist side by side. It offers a candid account of a family that moves to Malaya and interacts with its compatriots as well as other families overseas. It is a setting where multiplicity comes into dialogue with foreignness, and where openness and frankness make little difference. Everyone accepts difference rather than criticising it and learns to live with it.

The novel is not merely the story of a Pakistani-Malayan family; rather, it is the story of every individual born and raised in Pakistan.

The children are school-going and recount minute details of the schools they attend, their schoolfellows and teachers. These details are written without malice and make the book engaging and worthwhile. They describe their relationships and friendships candidly, commenting on everyone who enters their lives, whether briefly or for longer. From Molvi Sahib to Azizah, everybody is remembered and missed in some way or another.

They also exchange presents with their friends and the exchange is significant. The presents mark one’s place in the life of a person valuable to them. Some presents seem to invite remembrance.

The novel replays and restages each individual’s childhood, filled with stories from Grandma and Ustani Amma. A reader observes a truly indigenous experience in every line of the novel, along with exposure to cultural multiplicity and an account of academic growth.

Beyond its specific details, the novel addresses one of the most pressing issues of parenting. In the age of artificial intelligence and social media, Where Cicadas Sing recounts the efforts of parents who want to raise independent, confident children by exposing them to everything suitable and desirable and connecting them with the real world. They do not expose their children to aggression or extremism. The children are logical and rational. If they are denied something without a reason, they argue their case.

The novel also accounts for multiplicity of all kinds, including religious, cultural, ideological, social and political. A reader finds brief accounts of different religions throughout the text. Even a school principal announces in the assembly, “We don’t teach religion, we teach about religion.” The novel discourages prejudice towards anything related to caste, creed, race and religion, presenting a truly cosmopolitan world.

Where Cicadas Sing

By M Athar Tahir

Publisher: Lightstone Publishers (Pvt) Limited, 2025

Pages: 359

Price: Rs 2,500

 The reviewer is pursuing a PhD in English literature.