The Unwanted

"The Unwanted is a tightrope of a novel: tense, precise, stunning in its scope and power."—Tea Obreht, New York Times bestselling author of The Morningside

‘Urgently contemporary and prescient in equal measure, Fishman’s The Unwanted channels the spectrum of literature’s finest, emotionally visceral dystopian masterworks, from Dune to The Handmaid’s Tale, in a fable of survival, resistance and, ultimately, maternal love.’—Lea Carpenter, author of Ilium

Award-winning, New York Times Notable author of A Replacement Life—‘a born storyteller with a tremendous gift for language’ (San Francisco Chronicle)— delivers a fierce and staggering new page-turner full of cruelty, tenderness, and heroism, about a young girl and her parents fleeing civil war and the brutal dictatorship that has targeted their family.

Susanna, George, and their eight-year-old daughter, Dina, have been lucky, so far, in these four years since war broke out in their country. Even as their fellow "minority-sect" neighbors and classmates are murdered or imprisoned, George’s loyal work teaching "dominant-sect" literature has kept them fed and protected. But then the day comes: the university fires George—despite his years of collaboration, he is no longer safe. Left without money or allies, it is time for the family to run.

Embarking on a harrowing trip through refugee camps and across the sea, both George and Susanna are forced in their own ways to make sacrifices to keep Dina safe, while Dina fights to understand the chaotic world crashing down around her. But with each member of the family struggling to survive in circumstances beyond their control, lies and betrayals multiply until it seems impossible for any of them to reach across the abyss. The Unwanted is a stunning story of what the most powerless among us will do for dignity and safety.


Genre: Literary Fiction

"The Unwanted is Boris Fishman's best book yet - one of the best books I've read in years, in fact. But don't call it an allegory. It's entirely too convincing, too human, and too humane for that. In telling the story of a family pushed to the brink by events and perceptions they can do nothing to alter, Fishman has delivered something truly sophisticated - sophisticated artistically but also morally. A harrowing novel for equally harrowing times." - Tom Bissell

"Breathtakingly propulsive, sweeping in scope, and astoundingly timely, The Unwanted depicts the before, during, and after of a refugee family's terrifying flight from an unnamed war-torn region. With profound tenderness, the novel depicts its heroine's hard-fought triumph over brutality in a world teeming with broken people, nations, and promises." - Ada Calhoun

"Urgently contemporary and prescient in equal measure, Fishman's The Unwanted channels the spectrum of literature's finest, emotionally visceral dystopian masterworks, from Dune to The Handmaid's Tale, in a fable of survival, resistance and, ultimately, maternal love." - Lea Carpenter

"The Unwanted is a tightrope of a novel: tense, precise, stunning in its scope and power, unnerving in the flashes of familiarity that burst through its inventions." - Téa Obreht