A Hero of Our Time

A Novel

By: Naben Ruthnum

Narrated by: Raoul Bhaneja

For fans of Yellowface and American Fiction, A Hero of Our Time is a vicious takedown of superficial diversity initiatives and tech culture, with a beating heart of broken sincerity that the Toronto Star calls "a powerful, unexpected reading experience."

Osman Shah is a pitstop on his white colleague Olivia Robinson’s quest for corporate domination at AAP, an edutech startup determined to automate higher education.

Osman, obsessed by Olivia’s ability to successfully disguise ambition and self-interest as collectivist diversity politics, is bent on exposing her. Aided by his colleague turned comrade-in-arms Nena, who loathes and tolerates him in equal measure, Osman delves into Olivia's twisted past. But at every turn, he's stymied by his unfailing gift for cruel observation, which he turns with most ferocity on himself, without ever noticing what it is that stops him from connecting to anyone in his past or present. As Osman loses his grip on his family, Nena, and everything he thought was essential to his identity, he confronts an enemy who may simply be too good at her job to be defeated.

A Hero of Our Time cracks the veneer of well-intentioned race conversations in the West, dismantles cheery narratives of progress through tech and “streamlined” education, and exposes the venomous self-congratulation and devouring lust for wealth, power, and property that lurks beneath.

©2022 Naben Ruthnum (P)2022 McClelland & Stewart

Critic reviews

“A powerful exploration of the creation of an individual in an age of overwhelming conformity… a genuinely surprising novel at both narrative and thematic levels, with unforeseen twists leading to unanticipated emotional developments and revelations. It’s a powerful, unexpected reading experience.”—The Toronto Star

“An unsparing take on contemporary culture in which the rhetoric of diversity is the weapon of choice in a series of petty office battles… This sharp and entertaining tale of a modern corporate trickster hits all its beats, but underneath it runs the sadness of a man who has been made invisible—above all to himself.” —The Walrus

“The most coruscating and important novel to emerge from this country in over a decade.” —Maisonneuve