Radiant Fugitives

A Library Journal Title to Watch Nawaaz Ahmed's Radiant Fugitives (Counterpoint, August 3) is expansive, graceful, and astounding in its tenderness; it's a novel that untangles the infinite layers a love can conjure. --Bryan Washington, Vulture Nawaaz Ahmed's remarkable debut is both a profound meditation on political and social injustices, and an intimate, delicately wrought examination of the complications inherent to issues of desire, identity, and family . . . Political and poetic, Ahmed's novel is a provocative meditation on forgiveness, compassion, and family. --Kristin Iversen, Refinery29 I've never read a novel like Nawaaz Ahmed's Radiant Fugitives, and, I kid you not, I've been waiting for this tremendous, complex, moving novel for years, but never expected to receive it . . . There is so much of life in this book. --Anita Felicelli, Electric Literature This rich, unafraid debut novel offers a masterclass in perspective-taking and will leave readers feeling all the things . . . Ahmed's impressive insight into his characters' lives is lifted up by a lovely use of intelligent and beautiful language. Additionally, the author's project of showing his characters honestly and authentically in the full ranges of their different and shared humanities succeeds in meaningful ways. Recommended for readers who enjoy multi-generational epics with deep emotionality. --Booklist (starred review) This dazzling, heartrending debut follows two Indian sisters and their mother as they work to patch up fractures in their family . . . Ahmed brilliantly maps the tension between the three women with emotional acuity, and as Seema's pregnancy unfolds, Ahmed slowly builds to a showdown, culminating in a shattering and unforgettable conclusion. This is a gem. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Rising star. --Library Journal Radiant Fugitives indeed glows. This is such a beautiful novel, full of light and luminous sentences. Reading it felt like basking in a generous and lucid intelligence. Ahmed writes his characters and their worlds with honesty and compassion. This is a writer to watch, a voice we need. --Matthew Salesses, author of Disappear Doppelganger Disappear Lyrical and deeply moving, Nawaaz Ahmed's Radiant Fugitives is about the search for love, acceptance, and family, both chosen and received. The novel is big-hearted and clear-eyed, a stellar debut. --Vanessa Hua, author of A River of Stars A tender and heartbreaking love letter to San Francisco, to family, faith, tradition, and all the ways we get lost in them, Radiant Fugitives is richly drawn, poetic, and mesmerizing. Nawaaz Ahmed is a marvelous and intricate storyteller. --Natashia Deon, author of The Perishing and Grace Elegantly crafted and luminously written, Nawaaz Ahmed's first novel is a fearless exploration of the clash between identity, sexuality, and religion. --Manil Suri, author of The City of Devi Radiant Fugitives is a rare marvel, an intimate epic of faith and family, love and politics, knit together by a magical omniscience of profound compassion. --Peter Ho Davies, author of A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself Nawaaz Ahmed's remarkable debut novel brings to life a loving family torn apart by parental rejection, clashing values, sibling rivalry, and geographical and emotional distances. Radiant Fugitives is a profound and in-depth exploration of our common humanity, and the ways in which we are more alike than different. Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of I Know This Much Is True With a fine sense of the complex relationships among women kin, Nawaaz Ahmed has crafted an exquisite tale that explores the contradictions, love, compassion, and forgiveness in a family divided by tradition, sexuality, rivalry, religion, patriarchy, and geography. --Susan Abulhawa, author of Against the Loveless World