SHORT-LISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter…

Changez is living an immigrants dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite valuation firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned and his relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past.  And Changezs own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love. 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a riveting, brilliantly unsettling exploration of the shadowy, unexpected connections between the political and the personal. 

"Taut and accomplished."-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Slender, smart, and subversive."--Entertainment Weekly

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

MOHSIN HAMID grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, and attended Princeton and Harvard. His first novel, Moth Smoke, was a Betty Trask Award winner, a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His writing has also appeared in Time, the New York Times, and other publications. He lives in London.

Discussion guide inside and at www.HarcourtBooks.com.

Visit www.ReluctantFundamentalist.com.

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"Elegant and chilling."--The New York Times Book Review

“[A] resounding success."The Village Voice

“Brilliantly written.”The Seattle Times

“Hamids style is delightfully distinct . . . [He] has done something extraordinary.”The Washington Post

"[A] lucid, unsettling novel."--The New Yorker

"An unsettling novel for unsettling times."--The San Diego Union-Tribune

A NATIONAL BESTSELLERAt a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter . . .

Changez is living an immigrants dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite valuation firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of september 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changezs own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

MOHSIN HAMID grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, and attended Princeton and Harvard. His first novel, Moth Smoke, was a Betty Trask Award winner, a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His writing has also appeared in Time, the New York Times, and other publications. He lives in London.