Radiant Fugitives

By: Nawaaz Ahmed

Narrated by: James Fouhey

A dazzling operatic debut novel following three generations of a Muslim Indian family confronted with a nation on the brink of change.

Working as a consultant for Kamala Harris' 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.

©2021 Nawaaz Ahmed (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Intriguing book, hard to put down

The story is very novel. I have not previously read about Lesbian life in India and specially the ostracism of women who are. I liked the strong character of Seema. She appealed to me and how strong she was in the face of so many problems. Interesting, how her sister took a diametrically opposed path and adopting a more religious outlook. All of this in the setting of more animosity that Muslims are facing in America as they try to follow their religion was all brought together with such suave that it was hard to believe that this is Mr Ahmed’s first novel. I also liked how the story of Bill got weaved in and the African American struggle. Overall amazingly done. I was reading this book whenever I could get snippets of time because it was hard to put down.

Unfinished Ending

The story grips you...then disappoints by the brusque and Unfinished Ending. it doesn't provide an actual ending to the story. Ending doesn't feel suspenseful....rather unfinished due to laziness... disappointing.