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AudioBook information:
Author: Ayad Akhtar
Narrated by: Ayad Akhtar
Release date: September 29, 2026
Audiobook Duration: 9 h 49 min
Summary:Â Most Anticipated Books of the Year by Time Best Books of September by The New York Times and NPR Best Books of Fall by The Boston Globe A Must-Read of September by Vulture
“Simply put, a work of genius.” —Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water
A mysterious accident along a country road sparks an awakening and an investigation in Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and acclaimed novelist Ayad Akhtar’s most daring work yet—a visionary novel of spiritual transformation in an age of fracture—“bordering at times on the ineffable” (Mary Gaitskill, bestselling author of Bad Behavior).
When a hit-and-run shatters more than his body, a writer is plunged into a spiritual awakening he can’t tell from madness. In its grip, he’s drawn to a brilliant campus colleague by an uncanny pull, and into a scandal that threatens to destroy them both. What begins as a provocative portrait of academic and cultural warfare deepens into erotic entanglement, the exposure of a family secret, and the mystery surrounding the narrator’s accident—both the violence and its aftermath.
Moving between rural America and Europe, Islam and Christianity, the intimate and the metaphysical, The Radiance is of our American moment and beyond it—asking not only what has broken, but what radiance remains.
Reviews:
“I cannot remember the last time a book made me feel and think so much. The Radiance is as thrilling as it is illuminating. It quickened my pulse, activated my senses, awakened my mind and stirred my soul. A wondrous, transcendent reading experience.” —Charles Yu, National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown
“The Radiance is a fantastic surprise, a novel made of oppositions: almost painfully intimate, culturally wide-angled, vulnerable, shrewd, compassionate and ruthless, tragic and well, radiant. Bordering at times on the ineffable, it is a unique and extraordinary reading experience.” —Mary Gaitskill, author of The Devil’s Treasure
“The Radiance is, simply put, a work of genius. Through unforgettable characters Akhtar explores the nature of memory and of the soul, while the unfolding tale builds tension and anticipation like a whodunit. The Radiance is hard to put down and so original it will linger with me for a long time.” —Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water
“Electric and unforgettable: Only Akhtar could navigate territory this fraught—power, obsession, violation, and desire—and emerge with a book this urgent and alive.” —Tara Westover, New York Times bestselling author of Educated
“A campus novel like no other, profound and beautiful, whose narrator weathers today’s chaos while circling the ultimate questions—and somehow fun as hell to read. This brilliant book left me awestruck.” —Phil Klay, National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment
“A page-turning drama.” —The New York Times
“Transcendent…. radiating with intelligence and sensuality…profound.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Enlightening…readers will be enthralled…bound to inspire plenty of conversation and musing.” —BookPage
“As beautiful and elegiac as its cover art…also a tense literary thriller and an impassioned, philosophical wake-up call.” —Adam Morgan, Esquire
“A moving story about redemption, resilience and second chances that will keep readers turning pages late into the night.” —Woman’s World
“An engrossing combo of campus novel and whodunit that thoughtfully parses contemporary society by exploring the evolution — and devolution — of our politics, education systems, and cultural literacy.” —Cory Oldweiler, Boston Globe “40 best new books this fall”
“Akhtar is just so clearly brilliant.…[THE RADIANCE is] a real standout…pre-order it.”
—Lauren Jackson, NYT Believing
“Akhtar’s writing manages the feat of being as searching as it is precise.”
—Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture
“[Akhtar] blew my mind.” —Jim Higgings, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“This is a writer in love with ideas…and The Radiance is full to bursting with them….Akhtar has written a stunning novel of ideas that is simultaneously a pure delight to read.”
—Lorraine Glennon, Columbia Magazine
“Dazzling.” —Sooyoung Moon, BOMB
About the Author:
Ayad Akhtar is a novelist and playwright. His work has been published and performed in over two dozen languages. He is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction, and an award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among other honors. Akhtar is the author of the novels American Dervish, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, and Homeland Elegies, named one of 10 Best Books of 2020 by The New York Times. He has also authored the plays McNeal, Junk, Disgraced, The Who & The What, and The Invisible Hand. Akhtar was named the New York State Author in 2021.