99 Nights in Logar

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Novel “Funny, razor-sharp, and full of juicy tales that feel urgent and illicit...the author has created a singular, resonant voice, an American teenager raised by Old World Afghan storytellers.” (New York Times Book Review) A dog on the loose. A boy yearning to connect to his family's roots. A country in the midst of great change. And a vibrant exploration of the power of stories—the ones we tell each other and the ones we find ourselves in. Twelve-year-old Marwand's memories from his previous visit to Afghanistan six years ago center on his contentious relationship with Budabash, the terrifying but beloved dog who guards his extended family's compound in the rural village of Logar. But eager for an ally in this place that is meant to be "home", Marwand misreads his reunion with the dog and approaches Budabash the way he would any pet on his American suburban block—and the results are disastrous: Marwand loses a f