Hyper - Paperback

by Agri Ismaïl (Author)

A cutting, hypermodern saga of money, family, and survival for fans of Zadie Smith, Patricia Lockwood, and Mohsin Hamid.

On the eve of the 1979 Revolution, Rafiq Hardi Kermanj, founder of Kurdistan's communist party, flees Iran for London with his young family. Thirty years later, Rafiq's children attempt to carve out futures in the ruthless, alienating structures of twenty-first century capitalism. Eldest son Mohammad struggles to survive the cutthroat world of London finance. Siver, the only daughter, escapes a loveless marriage to raise her daughter in Dubai, hawking haute couture at a luxury mall. Terminally online hacker genius Laika gambles with fate as he creates an algorithm that perfectly mirrors the trading activity of Goldman Sachs. Though their circumstances differ drastically, the Hardis are united by their obsession with money and desperate efforts to locate meaning and identity within the numb isolation of modern immigrant life.

Equal parts heartfelt family story and razor-sharp satire, Hyper is an ambitious, thrilling articulation of life in the twenty-first century, marking debut author Agri Ismaïl as one of the most perceptive and exciting new voices in contemporary literature.

Author Biography

Agri Ismaïl is a Kurdish author based in Sweden who has worked as a corporate lawyer in London, Dubai, and Iraqi Kurdistan. His work has been published in The White Review, The Rumpus, Guernica, and Asymptote, amongst other places. His piece "Haunted Home" won the 2016 Stack award for best nonfiction for The Outpost, and he was longlisted for the 2017 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize.