Martyr!

An instant New York Times Bestseller
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Prize
Book of the Year in The Observer, The New York Times, and The New Yorker
A National Book Award Finalist

A young man uncovers the truth behind his mother's death in this haunting debut that takes you from New York to Tehran.

'Playful, soulful, kaleidoscopic, honest and profoundly moving' - Elif Shafak, author of There Are Rivers in the Sky

Cyrus Shams has always been lost. He's grown up tangled in the mysteries of his past - an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields, a haunting work of art by an exiled painter, and his mother, whose plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf when he was just a baby.

Now, newly sober and maybe in love, he's headed for an encounter that will transform everything he thought he knew. Can a final revelation change the truth of Cyrus's life?

Electrifying, funny, and all-consuming, Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is a masterpiece.

'Dazzling' Ann Patchett
'Gorgeous' Tommy Orange
'Radiant' Lauren Groff
'Stunning' John Green
'Miraculous' The New York Times
'Sensational' Daily Mail
'Kaleidoscopic' The Guardian

_{* Martyr! was an instant New York Times bestseller w/c 27/1/24}