Martyr!

I will carry this story, and the people in it, with me for the rest of my life. – John Green, author of The Fault in Our StarsSmart, dazzling, different… a novel of depth and complexity, tragedy and humour … This book is thrilling. There’s no other word for it. It’s like watching the novel itself be reinvented – Ann Patchett, author of Tom LakePlayful, soulful, kaleidoscopic, honest and profoundly moving – Elif Shafak, author of There Are Rivers in the SkyKaveh Akbar is a radiant soul, a poet so agile and largehearted it comes as no surprise that his first leap into fiction is elegant, dizzying, playful. – Lauren Groff, author of The MatrixIn Cyrus, Akbar has created an indelible protagonist, haunted, searching, utterly magnetic. But it speaks to Akbar’s storytelling gifts that Martyr! is both a riveting character study and piercing family saga … what Akbar pulls off in Martyr! is nothing short of miraculous. * The New York Times *Kaveh Akbar renders the full spectrum of life, and death, with great beauty and care – Raven Leilani, author of LusterAn absolute jewel of a novel. A diamond. I haven’t loved a book this much in years. Kaveh’s writing is so thoroughly powerful and gorgeous you can feel it from where dreams come … This book does everything. – Tommy Orange, author of There, ThereMartyr! is an astounding debut … It feels like holding magic in your hands – Aimee Walsh, The Irish TimesA kaleidoscopic debut… a novel that comes at you from every conceivable direction * Guardian *I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Sensational. * Daily Mail *It’s so, so incredible – Kaia GerberMartyr! will stay in my soul for good—a fever dream, a reckoning, a heartbreak, a shattering and mending, a delight—its double-helix of dreams and conversation now part of my own DNA – Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy ExamsA brilliant debut … simultaneously funny and piercing … Akbar writes beautifully * LA Times *Akbar is a black-belt storyteller, and MARTYR! is a page-turner I couldn’t put down. Buy this book! – Mary Karr, author of The Liars’ ClubAkbar’s debut is full of love, fury, humour and wisdom. Protagonist Cyrus Shams… is coming straight for your heart * People *I laughed out loud * NPR *I can’t remember the last time a book made me feel like this. Martyr! is simply extraordinary. Kaveh Akbar has written a novel that will stay with me forever. – Clint Smith, author of How the Word Is PassedReading Martyr! is a delight * The Washington Post *Stuffed with ideas, gorgeous images, and a surprising amount of humor … The serious fiction lover’s favorite kind of book, offering plenty to think about and discuss, all of it couched in brilliantly rendered prose that’s a pleasure to read. Let’s hope that Kaveh Akbar’s impressive debut is the first of many novels to come. * The Boston Globe *Deep-feeling, beautifully bruised … A darkly comic and heartrendingly earnest work * The San Francisco Chronicle *

Kaveh Akbar has been awarded multiple Pushcart Prizes for his poetry, and his collection Pilgrim Bell (2022) has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Poetry. He has been published in the New Yorker and the Paris Review, among others. Born in Tehran, he lives in Iowa.