Newlyweds Asha and Cyrus build an app that replaces religious rituals and soon find themselves running one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
Meet Asha Ray.
Brilliant coder and possessor of a Pi tattoo, Asha is poised to revolutionize artificial intelligence when she is reunited with her high school crush, Cyrus Jones.
Cyrus inspires Asha to write a new algorithm. Before she knows it, she's abandoned her PhD program, they've exchanged vows, and gone to work at an exclusive tech incubator called Utopia.
The platform creates a sensation, with millions of users seeking personalized rituals every day. Will Cyrus and Asha's marriage survive the pressures of sudden fame, or will she become overshadowed by the man everyone is calling the new messiah?
In this gripping, blistering novel, award-winning author Tahmima Anam takes on faith and the future with a gimlet eye and a deft touch. Come for the radical vision of human connection, stay for the wickedly funny feminist look at startup culture and modern partnership. Can technology - with all its limits and possibilities - disrupt love?
Tahmima Anam is the recipient of a Commonwealth Writers Prize, an O. Henry Prize, and has been named one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she was educated at Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University and now lives in London where she is on the board of ROLI, a music tech company founded by her husband.
"A whip-smart, funny and searing look at the wild world of startups." - GM Buzz Pick
"The buzziest novel of the summer. . . . there's delicious humor in the subtly savage takedowns of the Silicon Valley system. . . . Anam deftly explores the gender politics of the book's central partnership." - Entertainment Weekly
"A feminist comic novel about the tech world. . . . the bliss Asha felt when she gave up her PhD studies and reconnected with Cyrus, her high school crush, may not outlast his ambitions." - Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post
"A wise and wickedly funny novel about love, creativity, and the limitations of the tech-verse." - Vogue
"Faith, feminism, and our automated future make for a delicious mash-up in this satirical novel. . . . Anam's penetrating look at the tech world's discrimination pairs beautifully with her meditation on marriage and faith." - Esquire
"Spectacular. . . . a powerful statement on the consequences of public achievement on private happiness." - Publishers Weekly
"Offers readers a glimpse of the challenges of creating and running a startup and brings the issue of gender equality in work and relationships to the forefront... Anam's modern tale has plenty of talking points that will make it a good selection for book groups." - Library Journal
"Anam's not-quite-love-story shrewdly exposes gender inequity, racism, homophobia, and male white privilege, achieving sharply exposing, skillfully engaging results." - Booklist
"A clever, funny anti-romance novel set in the world of platforms, launches, engagements, and turmeric lattes." - Kirkus Reviews
