The Lucky Ones - a memoir

"The Lucky Ones is a story rescued from a fire. Few stories have offered us an understanding of how Islamophobia is used to motivate vigilantism and sanction state violence in the rush toward autocracy, though, as this one does. A warning, thrown to the world, and a stunning debut--Chowdhary is a much needed new voice in our literature."  

Alexander Chee, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

"In The Lucky Ones, she describes her relatives’ and neighbors’ terror under siege in unshrinking detail, naming the extremist hatred and violence that destroyed so many lives and remade her own. 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, A Living Remedy

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, Hijab Butch Blues

Zara Chowdhary's stunning voice bursts from the page in cascades of violent flowers, singing out in love and rage for a country that has both shaped and turned on her. 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, Feeding Ghosts

Cover design by Arsh Raziuddin

In 2002, Zara Chowdhary is sixteen years old and living with her family in Ahmedabad, one of India’s fastest-growing cities, when a gruesome train fire claims the lives of sixty Hindu right-wing volunteers and upends the life of five million Muslims. Instead of taking her school exams that week, Zara is put under a three-month siege, with her family and thousands of others fearing for their lives as Hindu neighbors, friends, and members of civil society transform overnight into bloodthirsty mobs, hunting and massacring their fellow citizens. The chief minister of the state at the time, Narendra Modi, will later be accused of fomenting the massacre, and yet a decade later, will rise to become India’s prime minister, sending the “world’s largest democracy” hurtling toward cacophonous Hindu nationalism.

The Lucky Ones traces the past of a multigenerational Muslim family to India’s brave but bloody origins, a segregated city’s ancient past, and the lingering hurt causing bloodshed on the streets. Symphonic interludes offer glimpses into the precious, ordinary lives of Muslims, all locked together in a crumbling apartment building in the city’s old quarters, with their ability to forgive and find laughter, to offer grace even as the world outside, and their place in it, falls apart.

The Lucky Ones entwines lost histories across a subcontinent, examines forgotten myths, prods a family’s secrets, and gazes unflinchingly back at a country rushing to move past the biggest pogrom in its modern history. It is a warning thrown to the world by a young survivor, to democracies that fail to protect their vulnerable, and to homes that won’t listen to their daughters. It is an ode to the rebellion of a young woman who insists she will belong to her land, family, and faith on her own terms.