Radiant Fugitives

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION

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.

Author: Nawaaz Ahmed
Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
Published: 08/03/2021
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.60d
ISBN13: 9781640094048
ISBN10: 1640094040
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Cultural Heritage
- Fiction | LGBTQ+ | Lesbian
- Fiction | Women

About the Author
NAWAAZ AHMED was born in Tamil Nadu, India. Before turning to writing, he was a computer scientist, researching search algorithms for Yahoo. He holds an MFA from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and is the winner of several Hopwood Awards. He is the recipient of residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, Djerassi, and VCCA. He's also a Kundiman and Lambda Literary Fellow. He currently lives in Brooklyn.