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A Novel
by Sara Jafari
A dazzling, electrifying, and thought-provoking novel for readers of Maame and Honey Girl, Things Left Unsaid is a mesmerizing and deeply-felt exploration of discovering your place in the world and the lasting power of love.
When twenty-six year old Shirin Bayat bumps into Kian at a house party in London, she is taken aback by the immediate feelings that resurface. It's been a decade since they were close friends at school, before painful events pulled them apart, suddenly and seemingly forever. Ever since, Shirin has lived with the aching weight of things left unsaid between them.
Now they're back in each other's lives, at a time when Shirin needs someone she can trust the most. Feeling stuck in a sea of slippery friendships and deeply burned out by her publishing job, Kian is a bright light amongst a sea of gray. There's nothing worse than losing the person you trust most with your deepest secrets and desires, and Shirin and Kian are determined to hold tightly to each other.
But of course, life often has other plans. Will it be different this time around, or are Shirin and Kian destined to fall apart once more?
"Sally Rooney fans will savor this." —Publishers Weekly
"A delicate yet impactful look at depression, disillusioned dreams, second chances at love and the power of bravery. What a book!" —Jessica George, New York Times bestselling author of Maame
"I absolutely fell in love with this romantic and incisive novel. Intricate and deft, Things Left Unsaid reads like smooth jazz on the page. Shirin is the kind of heroine I love to root for — smart, flawed, honest, and resilient. Jafari has written a total stunner." —Amy Jo Burns, author of Mercury
"Things Left Unsaid explores the rough edges of early adulthood with such clarity, unpacking what it means to both lose and rediscover yourself — and your relationships — in that hazy, messy era we call our twenties. Sara Jafari's writing is as deeply perceptive as it is relatable, tackling both heavy themes and lighter topics with nuance and poise. Fans of Sally Rooney will eat up this brilliant novel, no doubt." —Genevieve Wheeler, author of Adelaide
This information about Things Left Unsaid was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sara Jafari is a London-based British Iranian writer whose work has been longlisted for Spread the Word's Life Writing Prize and published in gal-dem and The Good Journal. She is a contributor to I Will Not Be Erased and the romance anthology Who's Loving You. Jafari works as an editor and runs Token magazine, which showcases writing and artwork by underrepresented writers and artists.
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