The Runaways A Novel

Fatima Bhutto

eBook - 2020

“Fatima Bhutto vividly renders the seductions of Islamic radicalization . . . and its universal roots in idealism and desire, rage and romance, youth and rebellion” (Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer). The lives of three radicalized Muslim teenagers—two from Pakistan, one from the United Kingdom—intersect in the Iraqi desert as they travel to a jihadi training camp in Mosul. Anita lives in Karachi’s biggest slum. Her mother is a maalish wali, paid to massage the tired bones of rich women. But Anita’s life will change forever when she meets her elderly neighbor, a man whose shelves of books promise an escape to a different world. On the other side of Karachi lives Monty, whose father owns half the city and expects g...reat things of him. But when a beautiful and rebellious girl joins his school, Monty will find his life going in a very different direction.... more