The Storm

Narrators Vikas Adam and Soneela Nankani work together to depict the lives of several families over a fifty-year span on the Indian subcontinent. Nankani tackles the interior lives of the female characters, while Adam uses his deep baritone to portray the men. They toggle between Bangladesh in the 1950s and modern America, giving the listener a sense of the breadth of people's experiences at significant moments in history. The story begins with Jamir and Honufa, a couple struggling make ends meet in a fishing village on the coast of Bangladesh. From there the story spins outward to WWII, involving British and Japanese characters, and follows with the creation of Pakistan as experienced by Rahim and Zahira. Happily, this ambitious novel is safely in the hands of seasoned narrators. M.R. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

June 11, 2018
Anwar’s excellent debut braids together brief moments of sacrifice and love in the lives of many characters across decades in South Asia and Washington D.C. The novel opens in November 1970 Chittagong, East Pakistan, as mother and wife Honufa awakes to find her husband gone to work and a massive storm coming: “Iron-gray clouds are moving toward the shore on legs of lightning.” After sending her son off to safety with her friend, Rina, Honufa’s next choices may determine whether she will ever be reunited with her husband and son. In August 2004 D.C., Shahryar Choudhury must find work within three months or his visa will expire and he will be forced to return to Bangladesh, unsure whether he’ll ever see his daughter again. Chapters alternate between Shahryar’s dilemma and that facing what a first seem to be random characters in East Pakistan (which will become Bangladesh), India, and Burma. Anwar expertly threads together these vignettes with others about the lives of an English doctor, a Japanese pilot, a Muslim couple caught in a ransom plot, and residents of Chittagong. This first novel will touch and astound readers.