“Salt and Saffron” by Kamila Shamsie (2000)
http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Saffron-Kamila-Shamsie/dp/158234261X

This story is well-dasigned as a Dard-e-Dil saga: we participate in many unbelievable events of Hindu/Pakistani aristocratic family, discover some facts the family would prefer to keep unsaid, and get to know the youngest generation of an old royal family. This is a big pleasure.
But to me, the greater plaesure was found in heading the history of the whole dispersed nation (or even the subcontinent!) – from Muslim invasion to the division of India and Pakistan, which is given as a background.

This book is full of magical realism; shows the power of a story and the magic of a myth.