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Table of Contents
About The Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOVEL EVERYONE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT IN 2026 • A TIME MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026
‘Simply put, a work of genius.’ Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water
A mysterious accident along a country road sparks an awakening and an investigation in Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and acclaimed novelist Ayad Akhtar’s most daring work yet—a visionary novel of spiritual transformation in an age of fracture— ‘bordering at times on the ineffable’ (Mary Gaitskill).
When a hit-and-run shatters more than his body, a writer is caught between revelation and madness as an uncanny pull toward a brilliant campus colleague ensnares him in a scandal that threatens to destroy them both. What begins as a provocative portrait of academic and cultural warfare deepens into erotic entanglement, the exposure of a family secret, and the mystery surrounding the narrator’s accident—both the violence and its aftermath.
Moving between rural America and Europe, Islam and Christianity, the intimate and the metaphysical, The Radiance is of our American moment and beyond it—asking not only what has broken, but what radiance remains.
‘Simply put, a work of genius.’ Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water
A mysterious accident along a country road sparks an awakening and an investigation in Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and acclaimed novelist Ayad Akhtar’s most daring work yet—a visionary novel of spiritual transformation in an age of fracture— ‘bordering at times on the ineffable’ (Mary Gaitskill).
When a hit-and-run shatters more than his body, a writer is caught between revelation and madness as an uncanny pull toward a brilliant campus colleague ensnares him in a scandal that threatens to destroy them both. What begins as a provocative portrait of academic and cultural warfare deepens into erotic entanglement, the exposure of a family secret, and the mystery surrounding the narrator’s accident—both the violence and its aftermath.
Moving between rural America and Europe, Islam and Christianity, the intimate and the metaphysical, The Radiance is of our American moment and beyond it—asking not only what has broken, but what radiance remains.
About The Author
Photograph © Vincent Tullo
Ayad Akhtar is a novelist and playwright. His work has been published and performed in over two dozen languages. He is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction, and an award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among other honors. Akhtar is the author of the novels American Dervish, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, and Homeland Elegies, named one of 10 Best Books of 2020 by The New York Times. He has also authored the plays McNeal, Junk, Disgraced, The Who & The What, and The Invisible Hand. Akhtar was named the New York State Author in 2021.
Product Details
- Publisher: Summit Books UK (February 25, 2027)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9781398567955
Raves and Reviews
'I cannot remember the last time a book made me feel and think so much. THE RADIANCE is as thrilling as it is illuminating. It quickened my pulse, activated my senses, awakened my mind and stirred my soul. A wondrous, transcendent reading experience.' Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown
'The Radiance is a fantastic surprise, a novel made of oppositions: almost painfully intimate, culturally wide-angled, vulnerable, shrewd, compassionate and ruthless, tragic and well, radiant. Bordering at times on the ineffable, it is a unique and extraordinary reading experience.' Mary Gaitskill, author of The Devil's Treasure
'Simply put a work of genius. Through unforgettable characters Akhtar explores the nature of memory and of the soul, while the unfolding tale builds tension and anticipation like a whodunit. THE RADIANCE is hard to put down and so original it will linger with me for a long time.' Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water
'Electric and unforgettable: Only Akhtar could navigate territory this fraught—power, obsession, violation, and desire—and emerge with a book this urgent and alive.' Tara Westover, author of Educated
'A campus novel like no other, profound and beautiful, whose narrator weathers today's chaos while circling the ultimate questions—and somehow fun as hell to read. This brilliant book left me awestruck.' Phil Klay, author of Redeployment
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