The Storm

"A remarkable debut, in which fiction vividly portrays specific events in history."--Booklist (starred review)

"This powerful and important debut is a story for our time." --Library Journal (starred review)

From an immensely talented new voice in international fiction, a sweeping tour de force that seamlessly interweaves five love stories that, together, chronicle sixty years of Bangladeshi history.

Shahryar, a recent PhD graduate and father of nine-year-old Anna, must leave the US when his visa expires. In their last remaining weeks together, we learn Shahryar's history, in a vil-lage on the Bay of Bengal, where a poor fisherman and his wife are preparing to face a storm of historic proportions. That story intersects with those of a Japanese pilot, a British doctor stationed in Burma during World War II, and a privileged couple in Calcutta who leaves everything behind to move to East Pakistan following the Partition of India. Inspired by the 1970 Bhola cyclone, in which half a million-people perished overnight, the structure of this riveting novel mimics the storm itself. Building to a series of revelatory and moving climaxes, it shows the many ways in which families love, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another.

At once grounded in history and fantastically imaginative, The Storm explores the human-ity that connects us beyond the surface differences of race, religion, and nationality. It is an epic novel in the tradition of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, by a singularly gifted and perceptive new writer.


Genre: Literary Fiction

"This book is a marvel, combining the sweep of a saga with the precision of a page-turner. Arif Anwar moves us deftly through time and across borders, beautifully illustrating the strange intersections we call fate, and reminding us how the past shapes the present." - Rumaan Alam

"Complex, elegantly-composed, and page-turning at once, The Storm is a novel both grand and intimate in its scope. Arif Anwar's ability to inhabit a variety of characters across countries and time is nothing short of astounding. I adored this book." - Armando Lucas Correa

"Lovers whisper, immigration papers rustle, gunfire explodes as this novel sweeps backwards and forwards across continents and decades....The interconnected stories come alive with sensual detail....This is Bangladeshi history--all our history--as we enter a new world--our world--through the absorbing stories of The Storm." - Kim Echlin

"Arif Anwar's masterful storytelling crosses continents and generations, illuminating how personal choices can have sweeping repercussions. The Storm is an elegant, stunning novel that captured my imagination and my heart until the end." - Shilpi Somaya Gowda

"Arif Anwar's The Storm is a brilliantly textured tapestry exploring the natural and man-made disasters that define a human story. And like a true storm, it is by turns devastating, humbling and cathartic." - Nadia Hashimi