Brimming Hopes and Dashed Expectations

Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed is a lavish book, with a plethora of complex themes dealt with in a generous, benevolent way. The canvas is large. It straddles America and Chennai, misogyny and homophobia, Islam and Blackness in America, and a slice of time stretching from America’s attack on Iraq up to Obama’s victory in elections. Underlining these themes are an abundance of emotions, brimming hopes, and dashed expectations, thwarted love laced with bitterness, enforced piety and a sense of tremendous loss. It starts out as a story of a loving family or at least a family that intends to be loving.