American Fever

A deeply compelling and funny coming-of-age novel about a teenaged girl's life-changing journey from Pakistan to America, and the challenges of a debilitating illness. On a year-long exchange programme in rural Oregon, sixteen-year-old Hira must swap Kashmiri chai for volleyball practice and understand why everyone around her seems to dislike Obama. An unforgettably witty narrator, Hira finds herself stuck between worlds. The experience is memorable for reasons both good and bad; a first kiss, new friends, racism, Islamophobia, homesickness. Along the way Hira starts to feel increasingly unwell until she begins coughing up blood, and receives a diagnosis of tuberculosis, pushing her into quarantine and turning her newly-established world upside down. 'Unforgettable... Rarely does a book sharpen how you see the world around you, but American Fever does just that.' Julie Buntin, author of Marlena 'Marks the debut of a thrilling new global voice' Peter Ho Davies 'In this sharply observed twist on the classic coming-to-America story, we find an America recognizable in all its generosity, cruelty, and sometimes-well-intentioned bumbling. And we find a brilliant exploration of the sacred, scary moment when a girl comes into the wider world' Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Sontag: Her Life and Work (P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited