The Other Half of You - Paperback

by Michael Mohammed Ahmad (Author)

'I only ever asked you for one thing, ' my father said, a quiver in his voice. 'Just this one thing.' It was as though I had smashed the Ten Commandments.
'Oh father, ' I cried, grovelling at his ankles while my mother and siblings looked on. 'The one thing you asked of me - is everything.'

Bani Adam has known all his life what was expected of him. To marry the right kind of girl. To make the House of Adam proud.

But Bani wanted more than this - he wanted to make his own choices. Being the first in his Australian Muslim family to go to university, he could see a different way.

Years later, Bani will write his story to his son, Kahlil. Telling him of the choices that were made on Bani's behalf and those that he made for himself. Of the hurt he caused and the heartache he carries. Of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned.

In this moving and timely novel, Michael Mohammed Ahmad balances the complexities of modern love with the demands of family, tradition and faith. The Other Half of You is the powerful, insightful and unforgettable new novel from the Miles Franklin shortlisted author of The Lebs.

PRAISE FOR THE LEBS

WINNER NSW Premier's Literary Awards Multicultural NSW Award 2019
SHORTLISTED Miles Franklin Literary Award 2019

'an open-eyed and highly charismatic novel broiling with fight, tenderness and ambition' Big Issue

'wonderfully vivid and compelling . . . utterly authentic' Books+Publishing

Author Biography

Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and editor of the critically acclaimed anthology After Australia (Affirm Press, 2020). Mohammed's debut novel, The Tribe (Giramondo, 2014), won the 2015 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelists of the Year Award. His second novel, The Lebs (Hachette Australia, 2018), won the 2019 NSW Premier's Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Mohammed received his Doctorate of Creative Arts from Western Sydney University in 2017.