Literature & Fiction
![Nawaaz Ahmed - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_nawaaz_ahmed.jpg)
Radiant Fugitives: A Novel
FINALIST FOR THE 2022 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION
FINALIST FOR PUBLISHING TRIANGLE'S EDMUND WHITE DEBUT FICTION AWARD
In the last weeks of her pregnancy, a Muslim Indian lesbian living in San Francisco receives a visit from her estranged mother and sister that surfaces long held secrets and betrayals in this "sweeping family saga . . . with the beautiful specificity of real lives lived, loved, and fought for" (Entertainment Weekly)
Working as a consultant for Kamala Harris's attorney general campaign in Obama-era San Francisco, Seema has constructed a successful life for herself in the West, despite still struggling with her father's long-ago decision to exile her from the family after she came out as lesbian. Now, nine months pregnant and estranged from the Black father of her unborn son, Seema seeks solace in the company of those she once thought lost to her: her ailing mother, Nafeesa, traveling alone to California from Chennai, and her devoutly religious sister, Tahera, a doctor living in Texas with her husband and children.
But instead of a joyful reconciliation anticipating the birth of a child, the events of this fateful week unearth years of betrayal, misunderstanding, and complicated layers of love-a tapestry of emotions as riveting and disparate as the era itself.
Told from the point of view of Seema's child at the moment of his birth, and infused with the poetry of Wordsworth and Keats and verses from the Quran, Radiant Fugitives is a moving tale of a family and a country grappling with acceptance, forgiveness, and enduring love.
FINALIST FOR PUBLISHING TRIANGLE'S EDMUND WHITE DEBUT FICTION AWARD
In the last weeks of her pregnancy, a Muslim Indian lesbian living in San Francisco receives a visit from her estranged mother and sister that surfaces long held secrets and betrayals in this "sweeping family saga . . . with the beautiful specificity of real lives lived, loved, and fought for" (Entertainment Weekly)
Working as a consultant for Kamala Harris's attorney general campaign in Obama-era San Francisco, Seema has constructed a successful life for herself in the West, despite still struggling with her father's long-ago decision to exile her from the family after she came out as lesbian. Now, nine months pregnant and estranged from the Black father of her unborn son, Seema seeks solace in the company of those she once thought lost to her: her ailing mother, Nafeesa, traveling alone to California from Chennai, and her devoutly religious sister, Tahera, a doctor living in Texas with her husband and children.
But instead of a joyful reconciliation anticipating the birth of a child, the events of this fateful week unearth years of betrayal, misunderstanding, and complicated layers of love-a tapestry of emotions as riveting and disparate as the era itself.
Told from the point of view of Seema's child at the moment of his birth, and infused with the poetry of Wordsworth and Keats and verses from the Quran, Radiant Fugitives is a moving tale of a family and a country grappling with acceptance, forgiveness, and enduring love.
Editorial Reviews
WINNER OF THE 2022 GINA BERRIAULT AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE 2022 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION
FINALIST FOR PUBLISHING TRIANGLE'S EDMUND WHITE DEBUT FICTION AWARD
Book Riot, A Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Best Book of the Year
A USA Today Book Not to Miss
A Best Book of the Month in Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Oprah Daily, Alta Journal, Nylon
"Stand back and applaud Ahmed, a writer of vast ambition, who wants nothing less than to reshape the American novel." -Kamila Shamsei, The New York Times Book Review
"A child is born in America, the son of an immigrant South Asian lesbian mother and a Black father. Through that child's eyes we learn about a family fractured by prejudice and loss; a family making new lives for themselves in the West even as they remain haunted by the religious and cultural expectations of their homeland." -Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post
"A sprawling, compelling novel set in San Francisco during Barack Obama's presidential campaign and first year in office . . . Thanks to Ahmed's vivid prose and his capacity to write heated dialogue, his dive into late-2000s politics is anything but dull . . . The novel is a reminder that, even when history is less than flagrantly obvious, each of us is mired in it, and shaped by it, from birth . . . Radiant Fugitives suggests that public life is like the air we breathe: utterly necessary to survival, but different from-and larger than-any individual self." -Lily Meyer, The Atlantic
"Astounding." -Time
"Tremendous . . . In the microcosm of one fractured family and its disturbing dynamics, Ahmed explores the complexities of kin who have divergent values and beliefs, and links those conflicts to broader themes of sexuality, religion and race. His novel captures the emotions that divide us, and delves into how these differences might be overcome . . . Radiant Fugitives will inspire readers to seek empathy, withhold judgment, accept our flawed humanity and marvel at the miracle of being alive." -Katherine Read,
FINALIST FOR THE 2022 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION
FINALIST FOR PUBLISHING TRIANGLE'S EDMUND WHITE DEBUT FICTION AWARD
Book Riot, A Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Best Book of the Year
A USA Today Book Not to Miss
A Best Book of the Month in Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Oprah Daily, Alta Journal, Nylon
"Stand back and applaud Ahmed, a writer of vast ambition, who wants nothing less than to reshape the American novel." -Kamila Shamsei, The New York Times Book Review
"A child is born in America, the son of an immigrant South Asian lesbian mother and a Black father. Through that child's eyes we learn about a family fractured by prejudice and loss; a family making new lives for themselves in the West even as they remain haunted by the religious and cultural expectations of their homeland." -Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post
"A sprawling, compelling novel set in San Francisco during Barack Obama's presidential campaign and first year in office . . . Thanks to Ahmed's vivid prose and his capacity to write heated dialogue, his dive into late-2000s politics is anything but dull . . . The novel is a reminder that, even when history is less than flagrantly obvious, each of us is mired in it, and shaped by it, from birth . . . Radiant Fugitives suggests that public life is like the air we breathe: utterly necessary to survival, but different from-and larger than-any individual self." -Lily Meyer, The Atlantic
"Astounding." -Time
"Tremendous . . . In the microcosm of one fractured family and its disturbing dynamics, Ahmed explores the complexities of kin who have divergent values and beliefs, and links those conflicts to broader themes of sexuality, religion and race. His novel captures the emotions that divide us, and delves into how these differences might be overcome . . . Radiant Fugitives will inspire readers to seek empathy, withhold judgment, accept our flawed humanity and marvel at the miracle of being alive." -Katherine Read,
Readers Top Reviews
kathleen gDS
You know from the start that things are not going to end well for Seema, the mother of the yet to be born narrator of this unusual novel. Set primarily in San Francisco, it's the story of Seema, her mother Nafeesa, and her sister Tahera, Indian Muslims from Chenai. Nafeesa and Tahera have come to support Seema in the last weeks of her pregnancy - a pregnancy she never anticipated. Seema left India after her devout father cast her out for loving women. Deeply devout Tahera, a physician, lives in Irvine, Texas with her family. Some of the most interesting sections of the novel involve Tahera and her son. Know that midway through the novel, it devolves for too long into a recitation of events of the 2008 election, which some might find interesting but frankly I remember it and would have preferred a look Tahera's life at the time. The atmospherics are wonderful- you'll smell the spices and feel the tension in the air- and the characters vivid. The ending is painful. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. It takes a bit of patience but it ultimately a rewarding read.
Kim Lockhart
This is such an unusual book, and difficult to describe in a way that does it justice. The whole is so much more than the sum of its parts. The novel is written primarily from the interior perspective of the characters. Technically, the book is written with a first person omniscient narrator, the in utero voice of the baby the main character is carrying. I sometimes forgot that, though, because of the way the author presents the painful depths of each character's internal struggles. At times, my heart soared with the allusions to poetry and the beauty of the natural world. Most of the time, though, my heart clenched for each of the characters, who clashed with each other and then expended tremendous emotional capital in reflection about the choices they'd made. By the end of the story, there was so much friction that sparks were flying, and I had to clutch myself to keep from feeling unmoored. The author is sympathetic to the flaws of his characters, but it's clear that they're careening towards an explosive collision that no one can stop. It's breathtaking, jarring, and leaves no one unscathed, including the reader. What's most remarkable is that this is the author's debut novel.
Laxmi N. GuptaDorann
In spite of very good writing, I could not connect emotionally to this book. It is too strange, too religious and unreal. Maududi whom the author seems enamoured of is not a sympathetic figure but an Islamic ideologue, wanting to impose sharia, deprive women of their rights and in general had anti-liberal and anti-democratic views. I think, perhaps, mine is a minority view but I do not recommend this book.
Heather L. Hurd
This book was lovely and complicated and full of characters navigating incredible challenges in a difficult world. Touching on everything from political activism to feminism, lgbtq rights, islamophobia and several other forms of bigotry and hatred, this is a skillfully written narrative and a tale of loss.
DarkNight
I couldn't put it down. The book is stunning in it's descriptions and the story just carries you away to a far far land like a wave in the ocean.
