‘Desire, belonging and sacrifice knot tight. Sensual, political and beautifully wrought.’—The Australian, ‘the big books of 2026’
In this seductive, provocative debut, two Afghan men—cast out of their respective countries of birth by circumstances beyond their control—collide in Istanbul, a city that will test their willingness to sacrifice everything for the ones they love.
When Delbar—a hapless twenty-something with dreams of becoming a drag queen—is spectacularly outed, he flees the insular immigrant-dense suburbs of Washington, DC, to seek refuge with his sympathetic aunt in Istanbul. There he discovers a vibrant community of dissidents, sex workers, activists, poets, and heretics. Among them are Leif and his boyfriend, Mansur, with whom Delbar quickly develops a blazing fascination.
But Mansur also nurses a wounded heart, having left his own family, and his first love, behind in Iran. This time, Mansur’s learned not to dream bigger than his own survival. He’ll keep a low profile, work hard to send money back, and remain faithful to Leif—at least until his refugee status is granted.
When riot police descend on attendees of the annual Istanbul Pride march, Mansur and Delbar are thrust into dangerous proximity. With the country surging into authoritarianism, each person must ask themselves: what constitutes a life well-lived, and how high is the price of freedom?
Told through the alternating viewpoints of Delbar and Mansur, Bobuq Sayed’s debut is a story of borders and boundaries transgressed, and a deeply engrossing exploration of what it means to make a home at the margins of society. At once an immigrant family saga, a thwarted love story, and a searing portrait of politics made intimately personal, No God but Us is an ambitious introduction to a bold new voice.
PRAISE FOR NO GOD BUT US:
‘I can’t remember the last time I was so moved by a book. I am lucky to count this story among my literary kin.’—ARIA ABER, author of Good Girl
‘Extraordinarily moving, astute, and often very funny, No God but Us is an exhilarating debut from a writer whose work I’ll always want to read.’ —R. O. KWON, author of Exhibit and The Incendiaries
‘Bobuq Sayed moves between voices and continents with rare confidence, tracing how exile and desire shape who we become. This is a story alive to contradiction—ferocious in its longing, unsparing in its honesty, and deeply attuned to the ways love and belief survive their own undoing.’ —GARRARD CONLEY, author of Boy Erased and All the World Beside
‘No God but Us explores the bonds we create and destroy around love, desire, country, and community with startling honesty, boldly interrogating the sacrifices one must make to live according to the truth of the human heart. A simply dazzling and unforgettable debut.’ —PATRICIA ENGEL, author of Infinite Country and The Faraway World
‘Impish yet deadly serious, No God but Us is a tessellation of borders and longings, love and danger—a novel that stays in the body long after its final page has turned.’ —SARAH THANKAM MATHEWS, author of All This Could Be Different
‘A new kind of novel, with vast geographies of nation and heart.’ —SARAH SCHULMAN, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity
‘No God but Us moves beyond the family’s carbon-copy dedication to the state and ultimately returns us, with impressive grace and compassion, to one of fiction’s central concerns: our attempts to imagine formative change against the banal expectations of power.’ —JOSEPH EARL THOMAS, author of Sink and God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer
‘A polyphonic dream of a novel, spanning borders, language, and time, with rich, lyrical prose that brings to life the harrowing journeys of its protagonists. Sayed beautifully captures the pains of dislocation and hierarchy, gifting us with a work that has been sorely missing from the queer and literary canons.’ —ALEJANDRO VARELA, author of Middle Spoon and The Town of Babylon
‘Stunning.’ —The Atlantic
