Martyr!

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR • A newly sober orphaned son of Iranian immigrants guided by the voices of artists poets and kings embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying funny and wholly original Martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction. “Kaveh Akbar is one of my favorite writers. Ever.” —Tommy Orange Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of There There “The best novel you'll ever read about the joy of language addiction displacement martyrdom belonging homesickness.” —Lauren Groff best-selling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling w