First published 2026
Saqib starts as an errand boy but earns his boss's trust to run a new farming operation. He sees his chance to escape his low station and begins planning to steal from the farm's profits. His boss Hisham owns vast lands and remembers how he met his wife when she was dating his brother. Afra climbed from poverty to become a trusted servant to a wealthy gangster. Gazala teaches school and falls for Saqib's promises about their future together. She doesn't know about his theft scheme. The characters move between Pakistan's cities and remote farmlands, where extreme wealth sits next to extreme poverty. Each person faces the same choice: follow moral paths or do whatever it takes to survive in a system built on class and money. Their fates connect through violence, love, and tragedy on the farm where their destinies play out.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, poverty, social-issues
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-dilemma, social-commentary
Setting: Pakistan
Period: 21st-century
368 pages · Hardcover · Knopf
Content warnings: violence