The Runaways

By: Fatima Bhutto

Narrated by: Maya Saroya

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Runaways, written by Fatima Bhutto and read by Maya Saroya.

Anita lives in Karachi's biggest slum. Her mother is a maalish wali, paid to massage the tired bones of rich women. But Anita's life will change forever when she meets her elderly neighbour, a man whose shelves of books promise an escape to a different world. On the other side of Karachi lives Monty, whose father owns half the city and expects great things of him. But when a beautiful and rebellious girl joins his school, Monty will find his life going in a very different direction.

Sunny's father left India and went to England to give his son the opportunities he never had. Yet Sunny doesn't fit in anywhere. It's only when his charismatic cousin comes back into his life that he realises his life could hold more possibilities than he ever imagined.

These three lives will cross in the desert, a place where life and death walk hand-in-hand, and where their closely guarded secrets will force them to make a terrible choice.

©2019 Fatima Bhutto (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel will move you with its profound wisdom and sharp grasp of our turbulent times. Behind The Runaways, there is clearly a brilliant mind and a generous heart at work.

(Elif Shafak)

Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now. (Gary Shteyngart)

A powerful and moving book. It is a book that anyone rushing to condemn young people for being radicalised should read. (Anne Youngson, author of 'Meet Me at the Museum')

As compassionate as it is trenchant, this rare fiction is an illuminating guide through the great disorder of our times. (Pankaj Mishra, author of 'Age of Anger')

Dazzling . . . a novel that holds up to scrutiny a world of claustrophobic war zones, virulent social media and cities collapsing upon themselves, and then sets it down again, transformed by the grace of storytelling (Siddartha Deb, author of 'The Point of Return')

The Runaways is a book we should all read for it holds up a clear mirror to the way societies in many parts of the world are shaping, moulding, distorting and deforming the young. It is a book we all need. (Jerry Pinto, author of 'Em and the Big Hoom')

A big-hearted, beautiful novel. I read it with awe. Fatima Bhutto has an unflinching eye and a unique voice. (Mohammed Hanif, author of 'A Case of Exploding Mangoes')

Beautiful on the struggle for acceptance

This is a thought-provoking and critical, brutal and honest, horrible and absolutely beautiful story about three very different people who, for very different reasons, go to Iraq to fight a holy war. Three young people who are invisible each in their own way, struggling for acceptance in the midst of conflicting ideals, discrimination and prejudice, hypocricy, betrayal and love. Each trying to find their way to freedom and integrity. Western cultures like to think they "own" the ideals of integrity and freedom, and their definition, but this novel shows that the strive for integrity and freedom is universal and that it can be sought for/found in what might seem like the most unlikely places, all depending on your situation. A lot of literture and movies on war is very graphic, sometimes social-pornographic. This is NOT the case here, still it portrays the brutality of it very well.

very difficult to follow

hard to follow. story line lacking. disjointed. author did not make me feel as though I was there.