Like many other eighteen-year-olds, Aden Sawyer is intently focused on a goal: escape from her hometown. Her plan will take her far from her mother's claustrophobic house, where the family photos have all been turned to face the wall, and from the influence of her domineering father - a professor of Islamic Studies - and that of his new wife.
Aden's dream, however, is worlds removed from conventional fantasies of teen rebellion: she is determined to travel to Peshawar, Pakistan, and to study Islam at a madrassa there. To do so, she takes on a new identity, disguising herself as a young man named Suleyman; her friend and travel companion, Decker, is the only one who knows her true identity.
Aden fully commits to this new life, even burning her passport to protect her secret. But once she is on the ground, she finds herself in greater danger than she could possibly have imagined. Faced with violence, disillusionment and loss, Aden must make choices that will test not only her faith, but her most fundamental understanding of who she is.
In Aden Sawyer, John Wray has created an unforgettable character, a young woman whose idealism, naivete and inner strength set her on a wild, brutal course toward redemption by blood. Godsend is an incisive novel of immense grace, from a novelist at the height of his powers.
About the Author
John Wray is the author of five novels, including The Lost Time Accidents and Lowboy. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers' Award, and a Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellowship from the American Academy in Berlin, and has been named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists. A citizen of both the United States and Austria, he lives in New York City.
Industry Reviews
Frequently mesmerising . . . This is a significant literary performance -- Dwight Garner * * New York Times * *
Rawly unsentimental but illuminated throughout by a subtle compassion, Godsend is a novel of enormous emotional intelligence which makes for compelling and consistently unpredictable reading -- Robin Yassin-Kassab * * Guardian * *
The 9/11 novel that finally understands the fulfilments of faith . . . It is not only Wray's heroine but also his novel that comes of age, steadily deepening and astounding as it develops . . . Godsend impresses because Wray is so fearlessly committed to his fictional world, and to his own depiction of it -- James Wood * * New Yorker * *
Illuminating . . . Extraordinary * * Financial Times * *
Wray's storytelling is so taut, his psychology so audacious -- JONATHAN FRANZEN * * Guardian * *
A nervy drama of secrecy and desire . . . Fascinating * * Observer * *
Illuminating . . . At a time when so many novelists are turning towards inner landscapes, Wray has undertaken a journey to the edge of the unimaginable -- Michael LaPointe * * Times Literary Supplement * *
Brilliantly executed . . . Wray's novel is on one hand an entirely familiar story of youthful rebellion and on the other an unimaginable depiction of a cold-blooded killer groomed by the world's most notorious army * * Wall Street Journal * *
Laden with tension and suspense . . . A compelling adventure story * * Irish Times * *
Wray writes with an elegant economy . . . Wray's understanding of the beauties and cruelties of religious faith is deeply impressive . . . This is a very fine novel indeed . . . Anybody who seeks to understand the world as it is today will find enlightenment here -- Allan Massie * * Scotsman * *
