David and Ameena

Overview

Modern-day New York, a subway train: David, an American-Jewish jazz musician, torn between his dreams and his parents' expectations, sees a woman across the car. Ameena, a British-Pakistani artist who left Manchester to escape the pressure from her conservative family, sees David. When a moment of sublime beauty occurs unexpectedly, the two connect, moved by their shared experience. From this flows a love that it appears will triumph above all. But as David and Ameena navigate their relationship, their ambitions and the city they love, they discover the external world is not so easy to keep at bay. Ami Rao's masterful debut novel picks apart the lives of two people, stripping them of their collective identities and, in doing so, facing up to the challenge of today: can love give us the freedom to accept our differences?

Reviews

"I've never read such an accurate and telling evocation of the additional complications of personal creative expression." —Tim Hayward, writer, broadcaster and columnist

"A touching story of multicultural love, desire and achievement with 'soul' at its heart."— Geoffrey Horton, musician and vocalist

"Exquisite. Beautiful. Provocative. I love her writing." —Jim Lawless, author, Taming Tigers

Author Biography

Ami Rao is a British-American writer who was born in Calcutta, India and has lived and worked in New York City, London, Paris, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Ami has a BA in English Literature and Economics from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Ami is the co-author of a memoir, Centaur, which won the General Outstanding Sports Book of the Year Award 2018 and it was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2017.