The Shadow Of The Crescent Moon

Fatima Bhutto's stunning debut novel The Shadow of the Crescent Moon begins and ends one rain swept Friday morning in Mir Ali, a small town in Pakistan's Tribal Areas close to the Afghan border. 
 
Three brothers meet for breakfast. Soon after, the eldest, recently returned from America, hails a taxi to the local mosque. The second, a doctor, goes to check in at his hospital. His troubled wife does not join the family that morning. No one knows where Mina goes these days. And the youngest, the idealist, leaves for town on a motorbike. Seated behind him is a beautiful, fragile girl whose life and thoughts are overwhelmed by the war that has enveloped the place of her birth. 
 
Three hours later their day will end in devastating circumstances. 
 
The Shadow of the Crescent Moon chronicles the lives of five young people trying to live and love in a world on fire. Individuals are pushed to make terrible choices. And, as the events of this single morning unfold, one woman is at the centre of it all. 
 
'A first novel of uncommon poise and acuity, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is set in an old and protracted war for land and dignity. But its swift and suspenseful narrative describes a fiercely contemporary battle in the human heart: between the seductive fantasy of personal freedom and the tenacious claims of family, community and history.' Pankaj Mishra 
 
Fatima Bhutto was born in Kabul, grew up in Damascus, and lives in Karachi. This is her first novel.

Bhutto writes of an extraordinary place where beauty lives alongside brutality, with superb poise and a kind of defiant lyricism

Stunning . . . Few debut novels can adequately explore such colossal themes as betrayal and allegiance, or persuasively render fear, doubt and determination

Incredibly ambitious, extremely powerful and moving

Concise, elegant. Bhutto is a gifted and compelling writer, economically and poetically summoning up this beautiful mountainous backwater

Powerful, compelling, moving inexorably to a devastating conclusion

[Explores] the divisive split between those suffering from the direct consequences of war and a generation of unaware, complacent young Pakistanis

A first novel of uncommon poise and acuity, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is set in an old and protracted war for land and dignity. But its swift and suspenseful narrative describes a fiercely contemporary battle in the human heart: between the seductive fantasy of personal freedom and the tenacious claims of family, community and history

An extraordinary first novel which reads like a politico-religious thriller. Compelling.

This is (...) a human story, with love as well as ideology - Bhutto blends the two adroitly (and) writes with great poignancy, keeping the emotional pitch high

It's a heart-stopping thriller, as well as an important political commentary about oppression, occupation and war. Most strikingly, though, it's a devastating love story

The novel is set over the course of one morning in a small town in Pakistan's tribal regions (and) follows the story of three brothers who are forced to make difficult choices. But the heart of the novel, for Bhutto, lies in the female characters

Thought-provoking. Above all, what The Shadow of the Crescent Moon captures so well is not just the trauma of war, but also the conflicts of contemporary Pakistanis, torn between remaining faithful to the legacy of previous generations, and their own dreams of choosing their own destiny

Fatima Bhutto was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and grew up between Syria and Pakistan. She is the author of several books of fiction and nonfiction. Her debut novel, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, was long listed for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction and the memoir about her father's life and assassination, Songs of Blood and Sword, was published to acclaim. Her most recent books are The Runaways, a novel, and New Kings of the World, a non-fiction reportage on popular culture and globalisation.

Fatima Bhutto's stunning debut begins and ends one rain swept Friday morning in Mir Ali, a small town in Pakistan's Tribal Areas close to the Afghan border. Three brothers meet for breakfast. Soon after, the eldest, recently returned from America, hails a taxi to the local mosque. The second, a doctor, goes to check in at his hospital. His troubled wife does not join the family that morning. No one knows where Mina goes these days. And the youngest, the idealist, leaves for town on a motorbike. Seated behind him is a beautiful, fragile girl whose life and thoughts are overwhelmed by the war that has enveloped the place of her birth. 
 
Three hours later their day will end in devastating circumstances. 
 
The Shadow of the Crescent Moon chronicles the lives of five young people trying to live and love in a world on fire. Individuals are pushed to make terrible choices. And, as the events of this single morning unfold, one woman is at the centre of it all.

Fatima Bhutto

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller. 
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel will move you with its profound wisdom and sharp grasp of our turbulent times. Behind The Runaways, there is clearly a brilliant mind and a generous heart at work.

This is a bold and probing novel, from a writer strikingly alert to something small and true

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now.

A powerful and moving book. It is a book that anyone rushing to condemn young people for being radicalised should read.

Anne Youngson, author of 'Meet Me at the Museum'

As compassionate as it is trenchant, this rare fiction is an illuminating guide through the great disorder of our times.

Dazzling . . . a novel that holds up to scrutiny a world of claustrophobic war zones, virulent social media and cities collapsing upon themselves, and then sets it down again, transformed by the grace of storytelling

Siddartha Deb, author of 'The Point of Return'

Bhutto's heady narrative flits through time and space with a sense of urgency, tracing three disparate young lives, each drawn into the realms of radicalisation, amid the dust of the Iraqi desert

The themes of radicalism (of all sorts) is a thread that runs through the lives of the characters representing the complexity of ideology and the perpetual human search for meaning. Eloquent and erudite...a treat to read

Rafia Zakaria, author of 'The Upstairs Wife'

The Runaways is a book we should all read for it holds up a clear mirror to the way societies in many parts of the world are shaping, moulding, distorting and deforming the young. It is a book we all need.

Jerry Pinto, author of 'Em and the Big Hoom'

A big-hearted, beautiful novel. I read it with awe. Fatima Bhutto has an unflinching eye and a unique voice.

Mohammed Hanif, author of 'A Case of Exploding Mangoes'

A shocking, moving and deeply compassionate novel

Highly topical . . . The Runaways offers an unflinching look at the key subjects of our time and the riveting story of three memorable characters

An incisive and empathetic study of adolescent alienation and the social conditions that drive radicalisation

An unflinching look at generational ambition and betrayal

A timely read that does a brilliant job of depicting the human cost when violence shifts from abstraction to reality

Provocative and resolutely compassionate

The new ‘bold and probing novel’ you won’t be able to stop talking about

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 neighbour, 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 great things of him. But when a beautiful and rebellious girl joins his school, Monty will find his life going in a very different direction. 
 
Sunny's father left India and went to England to give his son the opportunities he never had. Yet Sunny doesn't fit in anywhere. It's only when his charismatic cousin comes back into his life that he realises his life could hold more possibilities than he ever imagined. 
 
These three lives will cross in the desert, a place where life and death walk hand-in-hand, and where their closely guarded secrets will force them to make a terrible choice.

Fatima Bhutto

Praise for The Runaways

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

This is a bold and probing novel, from a writer strikingly alert to something small and true

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now.

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

This is a bold and probing novel, from a writer strikingly alert to something small and true

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now.

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

This is a bold and probing novel, from a writer strikingly alert to something small and true

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now.

Books by Fatima Bhutto

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Praise for The Runaways

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller. From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

This is a bold and probing novel, from a writer strikingly alert to something small and true

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now.

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller. From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

This is a bold and probing novel, from a writer strikingly alert to something small and true

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now.

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller. From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

This is a bold and probing novel, from a writer strikingly alert to something small and true

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now.

Books by Fatima Bhutto

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel