In the tradition of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, a sweeping historical novel that seamlessly interweaves five love stories spanning fifty years of Bangladeshi history.
Time is running out for Shahryar. His work visa has expired and he may soon be forced out of the United States and back to his home country of Bangladesh. Clinging to the remaining weeks he has left with his young American daughter, Shar reflects upon his family’s history, beginning in a village on the Bay of Bengal, where a poor fisherman, Jamir, and his wife, Honufa, prepare to face a storm of historic proportions.
Spilling across tense, crucial moments in history, Jamir and Honufa’s story intersects with other lives, like that of Ichiro, a Japanese pilot fighting in a war he does not understand; Claire, a British doctor in danger during the anti-colonialist Burmese rebellions; and Rahim and Zahira, a privileged couple in Calcutta uprooted to East Pakistan by the Partition of India.
With a narrative sweep mirroring the storm’s devastating path—leading to the eye’s calamitous landing—The Storm explores hope, loss, sacrifice, and the many ways in which families honor, betray, and ultimately love one another.
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“In crystalline prose, Anwar tells stories that span continents and decades as his characters interconnect…A remarkable debut, in which fiction vividly portrays specific events in history.”
— Booklist (starred review)
“Ultimately a celebration of family and the sustaining power of love. With a sprawling cast of vividly drawn characters…this powerful and important debut is a story for our time.”
— Library Journal (starred review)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Arif Anwar was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, just miles from the Bay of Bengal. He has previously worked for BRAC, one of the world’s largest NGOs, on issues of poverty alleviation, and for UNICEF Myanmar on public health issues. He has a PhD in Education from the University of Toronto and currently lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife Si (Sandra) Lian. The Storm is his first novel.
Soneela Nankani is an award-winning narrator with over three hundred titles in many different genres including Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Nonfiction. She has garnered sixteen Earphones Awards, nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards, and was recently awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile magazine and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters.
Vikas Adam is a classically trained actor with numerous credits in stage, film, commercials, and television, in addition to his over two hundred recorded audiobooks. His narrations have garnered numerous awards and nominations, including AudioFile Earphones Awards, various Best of the Year lists, and the prestigious Audie Award. He was an inaugural inductee into the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame.