Debut novel from a celebrated, prize-winning poet: a young man uncovers the truth behind his mother's death in this transcendental debut that takes the reader from New York to Tehran and heralds the arrival of a blazing and essential new voice

‘I will carry this story, and the people in it, with me for the rest of my life' JOHN GREEN, author of The Fault in Our Stars

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2024
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 2024
A BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER PRIZE FINALIST
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD 2024
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, AMAZON, TIME AND SARAH JESSICA PARKER
ON BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER READING LIST 2024

'Smart, dazzling, different . . . This book is thrilling.'
Ann Patchett, author of Tom Lake

'An absolute jewel of a novel'
Tommy Orange, Booker-longlisted author of Wandering Stars

'A kaleidoscopic debut'
Guardian

Cyrus Shams has always been lost. He’s grown up tangled in the mysteries of his past – an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields, a haunting work of art by an exiled painter, and his mother, whose plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf when he was just a baby. Now, newly sober and maybe in love, he’s headed for an encounter that will transform everything he thought he knew. Can a final revelation change the truth of Cyrus's life?

Electrifying, funny, and all-consuming, Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is a masterpiece.