Publishers Weekly
★ 06/21/2021
This dazzling, heartrending debut follows two Indian sisters and their mother as they work to patch up fractures in their family. In 2010, pregnant Seema Hussein, 40, hosts her terminally ill mother, Nafeesa, from Chennai, and her devoutly Muslim doctor sister, Tahera, from Irvine, Tex. Seema’s father disowned her when she came out as a lesbian, and the visit is a tentative step to mend fences as she frets about the birth and how involved in mothering she wants her younger Chinese American lover to be. The narration, artfully and convincingly handled from the point of view of Seema’s son, Ishraaq, moves backward to 2003, when Seema meets 34-year-old Bill Miles, a Black lawyer, at an anti-war protest and is disarmed by his “princely masculine courting.” They marry, and Seema throws herself into work for political campaigns. Then, while going through a divorce with Bill, Seema discovers she is pregnant. Back in the present, Nafeesa plans an elaborate meal for Seema’s friends, while Tahera learns troubling details of anti-Muslim activity back home and struggles to reconcile her religious views with her role as a sister. 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. Agent: Anjali Singh, Pande Literary. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
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, San Francisco Examiner
"Fine writing . . . Ahmed creates vivid, three-dimensional characters who are inexorably caught up in the reality of the larger political world." —Barbara Lane, San Francisco Chronicle
"[A] sweeping family saga . . . [Radiant] Fugitives teems with the beautiful specificity of real lives lived, loved, and fought for—a genuinely radiant debut." —Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
"A complex web of family love and betrayal connects the characters of Nawaaz Ahmed's rich debut novel Radiant Fugitives . . . The resulting tale is as poetic and multi-layered as the characters themselves." —Lauren Puckett-Pope, Elle
"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
"Guaranteed to entertain and engage." —Vanity Fair
"A stirring, polyphonic novel that taps Eastern and Western literary influences." —Hamilton Cain, Oprah Daily
"In heady, cultivated prose, Ahmed has penned a multifaceted, multigenerational novel that asks some of our fractured world’s most probing questions . . . Radiant Fugitives reminds us to 'seek sustenance only in the true and truly beautiful (and) to question everything else—rituals, tradition, faith, ties.'" —Alexis Burling, San Francisco Chronicle
"Hugely ambitious yet supremely accomplished, Radiant Fugitives grapples with politics, race and religion, while charting the progress of three generations of a Muslim Indian family. From its startling opening line to its stunning conclusion, the book is a stimulating and often affecting read, and heralds the arrival of a prodigious new talent . . . Ahmed’s vividly drawn characters and their thoughts and deeds come to us by way of a remarkable narrative voice—that of Seema’s newborn (and at times unborn) son Ishraaq . . . A bold and richly rewarding debut novel." —Malcolm Forbes, The National
"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
"A stunning examination of family, sacrifice, and empathy." —Alta
"An expansive family saga enriched by brilliantly wrought characters and a dazzling lyricism . . . Ahmed digs deep into his characters’ memories to enchantingly blend the past and present, while modulating the intricacies of their relationships with care and mastery . . . Ultimately, Radiant Fugitives paints a broad portrait, at turns hopeful and despairing, of a family—and a country—testing its capacity for change." —Giancarlo Latta, Lambda Literary
"Ahmed’s story is, simply put, brilliant. Exploring family traditions, religion, politics, sexuality, and more, this book highlights current issues in a brand new way. While some people come to books for the plot, readers should come to this book for the brilliancy of the craft Ahmed displays." —Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
"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)
Library Journal
03/01/2021
Ejected from her Muslim Indian family after coming out as a lesbian, political activist Seema now lives in San Francisco. She wants to reconcile with her family, and soon her mother is winging her way from India even as her devout ob-gyn sister arrives from Texas. From a Kundiman and Lambda Literary Fellow.
Kirkus Reviews
2021-07-10
A Muslim Indian family, splintered by forces from within and without, attempts to reconnect over one fateful week in San Francisco.
"Oh, Grandmother, you’re not asleep yet. The voices from the kitchen are no lullaby. Your daughters are fighting, and you blame yourself. There must have been something you could have done, before the rifts widened to such chasms." Ahmed's complex, ambitious debut is narrated by a fetus who—like his literary cousin in Ian McEwan's Nutshell—has narrative art to spare. Having just emerged from his mother's lifeless body in the delivery room, he unfolds a tragedy of classic proportions, fluently incorporating the poetry of Wordsworth, Keats, and the Quran and including masterful descriptions of the skies of San Francisco, of Muslim ritual, of LGBTQ+ protests, of Indian cooking and theater, of the volunteer organizations of then–District Attorney Kamala Harris and presidential candidates Howard Dean and Barack Obama. The story unfolds in a confusing manner, with some intent to mislead, but is essentially this: Seema, estranged from her family in India and uprooted to the U.S. when she came out as queer decades ago, briefly married Bill, a Black man. After their rancorous breakup, one instance of farewell sex led to the conception of Ishraaq (the name his mother chooses after learning he's a boy). As Ishraaq's due date draws near, Seema's mother, Nafeesa, comes from Chennai, though she is dying of cancer. Younger sister Tahera, a devout Muslim in hijab and jilbab, a mother of two and an OB/GYN, also arrives from her home in Irvine, Texas—though she is poisonously jealous of her sister and disgusted by her gay friends. Every difficulty and heartbreak takes its place alongside many others in this painful story shaped by both Islamophobia and homophobia.
Ahmed swings for the fences in this luminously intelligent, culturally magisterial debut.
