Good People

Zorah Sharaf's friends know her as witty, confident, obsessed with Paris; Zorah Sharaf's family know her as their beloved daughter and sister; Zorah Sharaf's community know her as a selfish girl intent on dragging her father's name through the mud. So who is Zorah Sharaf?

CHOSEN AS A 2026 MUST-READ BOOK BY THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, STYLIST, SUNDAY INDEPENDENT, NEW ARAB AND BBC CULTURE

'A spectacular triumph...the Afghan novel I have been eagerly waiting for' KHALED HOSSEINI

'A gorgeous and powerful debut novel' NEW YORK TIMES

'Thrilling. I'll be recommending this book to everyone' ANN PATCHETT

'Brilliant. The best debut I've read in a very long time' MONICA ALI

'Gripping, thought-provoking, and quietly devastating' LOUISE O'NEILL

'A clever debut probing the American dream' GUARDIAN

'This sweeping family saga will stay with you long after you put it down' SUNDAY TIMES
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EVERYONE THINKS THEY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED . . .

The Sharaf family is the picture of success. They arrived in America as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighbourhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father's eye.

But when Zorah dies in an unthinkable tragedy, the family is thrust into the court of public opinion. There is talk that the Sharafs' happy household was anything but, and soon the veneer of the model immigrant family starts to crumble.

Those who knew her best - and those who never met her - all have an opinion on who Zorah really was, and what really happened to her . . .

Told through the chorus of voices surrounding the Sharafs, Good People is a riveting, provocative and unforgettable story of community, family and identity.

Patmeena Sabit was born in Kabul a few years after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When she was a month old, her family fled the conflict and became refugees in Pakistan, joining the millions of other Afghans that had sought refuge there. They later moved to the United States and she grew up in Virginia. She currently lives in Toronto. Good People is her debut novel.