A Library Journal Title to Watch


“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 Doppelgänger Disappear

“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 Deón, author of The Perishing and Grace

"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

"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


“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

"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