PRAISE

“Where the sterile language of news accounts falls short, Chowdhary’s memoir fills in the gaps with a visceral work of bearing witness, recounted with exacting and unapologetic subjectivity. . . As a writer, she’s a keen student of Anne Frank, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Marjane Satrapi — memoirists whose seminal works are also masterpieces of political and national history. Chowdhary skillfully weaves the ascent of right-wing politics with the rude awakenings and pain of entering womanhood alongside her beloved sister. In writing into the void where erasure and degradation once reigned, Chowdhary resurrects her family’s lost Indian Muslim dignity to ensure they are accounted for as citizenry…throughout the book, I felt deeply assured I was in the hands of a writer in control of what she wished to express — holding firm to the idea that if journalism tells the reader what happened, it is literature that reveals how it feels. This debut is a testament to the power of literature to do what other forms of language and commentary cannot, rendering its readers among a fortunate tribe, of lucky ones.”—Bilal Quereshi, The Washington Post

"This lyrical, resonant memoir traces her family’s survival through a 2002 religious massacre and all that follows, with glimpses of grace, laughter and forgiveness"--People Magazine

“A harrowing survivor’s tale, an important history lesson, and a desperate warning from someone who has seen the tragic effects of ethnic violence.”—Time

“The Lucky Ones is a unique memoir in English of this largest-ever massacre in independent India. It is also about a communal crisis bringing a fractured family together. A must-read in our warring world today.”—NPR

“Chowdhary delivers an exceptional portrait of resilience in the face of unfathomable cruelty. This is difficult to forget.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“This is reading fire in your hands. Do not miss it.”—Booklist, starred review

“A tight, suspenseful narrative that interweaves one girl’s keen observations of family within India’s problematic history.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Twin rivers of love and pain entwine in this masterpiece about a family in a nation in our world. Zara Chowdhary’s memoir of harrowing hate that forces a redemptive strength is strikingly unsentimental, and yet I have never read a memoir that has tugged more urgently upon my emotions.”—Kiran Desai, Booker Prize-winning author of The Inheritance of Loss

“I can’t remember the last time I read a book in one sitting. I did so with The Lucky Ones, an astonishing debut...Zara Chowdhary is the Indian Muslim literary voice we have been waiting for...Easily the best memoir coming out of South Asia in recent years,The Lucky Ones is essential reading for anyone who loves great writing, told true and straight as an arrow to the heart.” —Suketu Mehta, author of Pulitzer finalist Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found

“A warning, thrown to the world, and a stunning debut—Chowdhary is a much-needed new voice.”—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

“An astonishing feat of storytelling, an urgent reckoning with a past that feels all too present, and a moving ode to the women in her family, Chowdhary’s memoir is one that should and will haunt you.”—Nicole Chung, author of A Living Remedy

“The Lucky Ones is a necessary, deep reckoning with history, identity, and violence.This memoir will break your heart and then repair it.”—Beth Nguyen, author of Owner of a Lonely Heart

“Hauntingly beautiful. Blending lyrical writing and investigative reports, this is a necessary read—especially in these times of Islamophobia and genocide. This book is for anyone looking for rich portrayals of Muslim women—as sisters, as mothers, as daughters, as protagonists of their own stories.”—Lamya H., author of the award-winning book Hijab Butch Blues

“In exquisite, devastating language, Chowdhary tugs at each complex thread of India’s social fabric until the illusion of a whole cloth unravels—a collapse made more devastating by the hope that preceded it. The Lucky Ones is an act of urgent political witness, a refusal to allow the brutalities of twenty years ago to be forgotten—and repeated—today.”—Tessa Hulls, author of Feeding Ghosts

“Zara Chowdhary's debut memoir The Lucky Ones combines the power of an eyewitness, the sensitivity of a poet, and the sense of historical sweep as she crafts an enthralling account of the horrors Gujarat experienced in 2002. The selective targeting of Muslims, the mass rapes, the exceptional violence, and the callousness of the state and its structures is shown alongside the tumult within her family, the fraying of ties, and the unraveling of the idea of India. The Lucky Ones is a profound reflection of identity, belonging, and the human condition. —Salil Tripathi, author of the forthcoming The Gujaratis: A portrait of the Community (Aleph, 2024).