“A deep and powerful work of literary climate fiction… Farah Ali’s is a fresh voice in fiction, a voice that risks and rewards the reader with a deeper understanding of their own condition. Her scope is global but also deeply personal…. An outstanding addition to what I hope is a long-lasting and prolific career.” —Independent Book Review“Ali looks at her characters and keeps looking, unwilling to run away herself or allow them that luxury, as if looking alone is the only thing that matters. As if an awakening needs to happen in the reader and not the characters of the novel.” —World Literature Today“The River, TheTown shimmers like a clear, blue stream. Farah Ali’s debut novel, which isset in a small town in Pakistan against the backdrop of a debilitating drought,will force you to rethink everything you ever thought you needed. Ali is atalent, and where she shines is in her ability to blend the catastrophic withthe everyday. This is a book you’ll want to read, but it’s one you need toread, too.” —Rachel Beanland, author of The House is On Fire and FlorenceAdler Swims Forever “Told in spare,lovely prose, The River, The Town, tautly and magnetically juxtaposesclimate-induced poverty with fraught family relationships. Ali's portrayal ofMeena, Baadal and Raheela at different stages of their lives, probingcompassionately into memories, dreams, overheard conversations, will stay withyou long after the last page. A must for any reader interested in the humanimpact of climate-induced scarcity and sustained hope.” —Chaya Bhuvaneswar,PEN/ American finalist for White Dancing Elephants: Stories “The story ofurbanization, the divide between urban and rural, the burning desire to tradethe province for the metropolis, is at the heart of modern South Asia. FarahAli takes this story and turns it into a tremendously personal tale of a singlefamily. The stench of poverty that Farah's characters carry on themselves isits own animal, sharing space on every page. Farah has expertly craftedcharacters whose lives are overrun by economic struggle and climate change,sketching them in with electrifying details, unwavering compassion, andimpressive clarity. There is none of the romanticization of struggle, nosimplification of precarity, that so often makes its way into South AsianEnglish-language fiction. The prose is stark and unadorned, but it has burneditself on my mind, and will do so with other lucky readers as well. This bookis a marvelous achievement." —Dur e Aziz Amna, author of AmericanFever “FarahAli’s stunning debut illustrates how even the deepest love can be corrupted bythe encroaching devastation of a planet in crisis. An impoverished,drought-plagued town backdrops a tense family drama between a mother, her son,and the woman he loves. In this lushly painted world, villagers sleep on theground, fight for food, and die from preventable illnesses, yet joy alwaysmanages to break through as does love – desperate, wounded, intimate, andtrue. The River, The Town surveys the losses we bring uponourselves, the losses forced upon us by an unforgiving world, and the gainswhen we persevere.” —Laura Warrell, author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty,Rhythm
