The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali
Winner: 2023 Mass Book Award in Fiction
A New York Times’ Best Historical Fiction 2022
A New York Times’ Books for Summer 2022
A 2022 Foreword INDIES Finalist in Historical Fiction
Winner: Karachi Literature Festival-Getz Pharma Fiction Prize 2021
Winner: 9th UBL Literary Awards English language Fiction 2020
Shortlist: TATA Literature Live! Best Book of the Year, Fiction 2019
EDITIONS: US, UK, CANADA, INDIA, PAKISTAN & SWEDEN
‘A miraculous performance … set in the Andaman Islands, a British penal colony in the Bay of Bengal, just before and during World War II, Khan’s suspenseful, thought-provoking narrative is a challenge to simple assumptions about enemies and friends, loyalty and betrayal.’—New York Times
“With piercingly lucid attention, Uzma has drawn an intricate spider’s web that is both a record and a refuge … the tenderness with which (she) write(s) is a kind of intervention of knowing that is in opposition to the colonial one.”—Aracelis Girmay, conversation with Uzma Aslam Khan in Los Angeles Review of Books
‘(A) carefully plotted examination of power and oppression … Khan engages readers with a confident style and seamless storytelling.’—Publishers Weekly
‘A historical novel that is both deeply researched and beautifully written … Khan perfectly captures global history in all of its ironic and disorienting glory.”—Kirkus Reviews
‘A glorious novel about a forgotten place and a part of our history that we hardly ever talk about.’—Mohammed Hanif
'The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali brilliantly excavates a forgotten past of several societies and honors its human complexity with a narrative of delicate precision. As affecting as it is intellectually powerful, the novel is a master lesson in the art of historical fiction.'—Pankaj Mishra
‘(A) lyrical novel … The past isn’t ever dead and politics with distinct contemporary echoes suffuses (it) … The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali has the additional virtue of being written by a South Asian author who tells the story mostly through the eyes of ordinary people, especially in her focus on entirely powerless adolescents ... It is also a story of how hope and even dreams can adapt to just about anything.’—Asian Review of Books
‘A masterful chronicle of the tumultuous years of the war on the Andaman Islands told from the points of view of several characters … Immersive, well-researched, beautifully written, and highlighting marginalized voices that can only find complete expression in fiction, this is historical fiction at its best.’—Book Riot
‘Khan is adept at creating worlds that are at once magical and terrifying. She creates a universe out of a footnote of history.’ —Indian Express
‘Besides being an accomplished literary masterpiece, Nomi is also an important book for our times in the context of migration and hate politics, as we shape our history, catastrophically failing at all the big questions of race, identity, and the wielding of power. To top it all, what makes Nomi supremely special is that, as readers, we get to witness a shining depiction of a masterful, empathetic writer at her creative peak.’—Pooja Pande, Café Dissensus
‘A consummate storyteller, (Khan) keeps readers engrossed till the end. It is one story that you should not miss.’ —The Tribune
‘Part of the beauty of Khan’s writing stems from the fact that she does not need to actively portray racism, she makes virtually all her characters live it … Khan writes with quietly restrained but powerful passion.’ —Dawn
‘A richly imagined universe ... If we are to strive for a more just world, we need to hear the stories.’ —The Hindu
‘For every historical outrage eventually there comes along a work of fiction that does it justice ... miraculously (lifting) the mists of collective forgetfulness.The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali performs that vital and welcome miracle. Voices from the past have been successfully captured and amplified by this remarkable novel … (with a) dream-like quality to the beautiful prose.’ —Osama Siddique, The Herald; reprinted in Scroll
'This fiction is the new truth we need to know.'—New Indian Express
‘A magnificent, rebellious, and moving story. (It) is striking on several levels: as a historical novel, as testimony … as a story of hope, friendship, and love that can survive even in the most terrible circumstances.’—Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden)