Martyr!

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR. A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings. His journey leads him to a terminally ill painter in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original, this novel heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction. Cyrus Shams grapples with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf, while his father’s life in America was marked by labor at a factory farm. A drunk, an addict, and a poet, Cyrus's obsession with martyrs drives him to explore his past—toward an uncle who dressed as the angel of death on Iranian battlefields and toward his mother, whose true identity is hinted at through a painting found in a Brooklyn art gallery. This work is a celebration of the search for meaning in faith, art, and human connection.