Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar: Why It's One of Our November Picks

Every month we choose three books we would happily press into a friend’s hands, and this November one of them is Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. It is the kind of novel that people finish and immediately want to talk about, which is exactly why we wanted to share it with our readers across Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

What is Martyr! about?

Cyrus Shams is a young Iranian-American poet living in Indiana. He lost his mother as a baby, when the plane she was travelling on was shot down over the Persian Gulf in 1988, and he grew up with a father who never quite recovered from that loss. Now newly sober and working odd jobs, Cyrus has become fixated on one question: how can a life, and a death, actually mean something?

That question leads him to an unusual art exhibition in New York, where a dying Iranian artist is spending her final days talking with visitors about death. What follows is part family mystery, part love story and part meditation on faith, art and survival. We won’t say more, because the way the story unfolds is one of its great pleasures.

Why we chose it

We picked Martyr! because it manages something very few books do. It takes on heavy subjects, including grief, addiction and the search for meaning, and yet it is warm, funny and full of hope. Akbar is a poet, and you can feel that on every page. The sentences are a joy to read slowly, and there are lines you will want to underline and send to someone you love.

It also fits beautifully with what Wenovelists is about. We believe reading is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself, and this is a book about learning to stay, to heal and to find a reason to keep going. It reminds us that our stories, even the painful ones, connect us to other people.

Who will love this book?

• Readers who enjoy literary fiction with real heart and a sense of humour.
• Anyone who has lived between two cultures, or who loves stories about identity and belonging.
• People who want a book that makes them think and feel, without leaving them feeling hopeless.
• Book clubs looking for a novel that will spark a long and lively conversation.

A gentle note: the novel deals openly with addiction, recovery and grief. It handles these themes with great care, but it is worth knowing before you start.

About the author

Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet born in Tehran and raised in the United States. Before writing Martyr!, his first novel, he published the acclaimed poetry collections Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell. Martyr! was published in 2024, became a New York Times bestseller and appeared on many best-books-of-the-year lists.

Make some time for it

At around 340 pages, Martyr! is a perfect companion for a few quiet evenings away from your phone. Make a cup of tea, put your screens in another room and let yourself sink into Cyrus’s world. That small ritual is what we hope every Wenovelists box brings into your month.

Would you like Martyr! in your next box? It is one of our three November picks. You can choose it when you subscribe, or send it as a gift to someone who could use a good story right now. If you are already a subscriber, simply reply to our November email with your choice.