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Biographical Note:
Patmeena Sabit was born in Kabul a few years after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When she was a month old, her family fled the conflict and became refugees in Pakistan, joining the millions of other Afghans that had sought refuge there. They later moved to the United States and she grew up in Virginia. She currently lives in Toronto.
Review Quotes:
"Propulsive."
--TIME
"Ingeniously structured, thought-provoking, and utterly addictive,
Good People will have everyone talking."
--Paula Hawkins
"Brilliant. The best debut I've read in a very long time."
--Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Love Marriage
"
Good People is a thrilling tour de force of a novel. I'll be recommending this book to everyone."
--Ann Patchett
"This devastating début novel takes the form of an oral history about a tragedy that shatters a family. At its heart is a couple who arrived in the U.S. in the late nineteen-nineties as refugees from Afghanistan. They prospered, and brought up four children in an affluent suburb in Virginia. Rotating testimonies from people they know--family friends, a cousin, lawyers--offer theories about what led to the novel's central catastrophe. Once the nature of the tragedy has been revealed, the book transforms into an intimate study of an Afghan immigrant community forced to reevaluate what it means to raise children in America."
--The New Yorker
"Best book of the year contender!
Good People is brilliant, original, compelling storytelling. Set in northern Virginia, this novel tells the story of one family's rise and fall through the points of view of their neighbors and friends, newspaper articles and police reports, and the general public. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! Brava . . . this book is phenomenal."
--Elin Hilderbrand, via Instagram
"One of those novels where you know right away that a mysterious, unspeakable something has happened, and you are simultaneously terrified and desperate to get the details. . . . This skillful debut is both a bated-breath thriller and a richly atmospheric portrait of an immigrant community."
--Oprah Daily
"
Good People is a gripping, thought-provoking novel that peels back the layers of family, reputation and truth. It's a story that will leave readers questioning just how well we ever know the people closest to us."
--Women's World
"Patmeena Sabit's debut,
Good People, may remind readers of Celeste Ng's bestselling
Little Fires Everywhere in that it's a domestic tale that reads like a propulsive thriller and springs from a clash of cultures."
--The Minnesota Star Tribune
"Sabit debuts with an electrifying whodunit . . . This propulsive tale heralds Sabit as a writer worth keeping tabs on."
--Publishers Weekly
"
Good People is equal parts an immigrant novel, a tightly wound mystery, and an oral history. Patmeena Sabit moves between these with insight, ease, and grace to give us a remarkable, unsettling snapshot of our complicated times."
--Sameer Pandya, author of Our Beautiful Boys
"With startling empathy for all sides, Patmeena Sabit plumbs the fault lines of honor, truth, prejudice, and how identity shapes guilt in the aftermath of tragedy. What a spectacular triumph this book is."
--Khaled Hosseini
"A triumphant debut! The writing: beguiling. The pacing: breakneck. The possibility I will read this again and again: absolute."
--Alka Joshi, author of The Henna Artist and the Jaipur Trilogy
"At once heartbreaking and hypnotic, Sabit's is a novel that demands to be devoured."
--Booklist, starred review
Publisher Marketing:
"A thrilling tour de force of a novel. I'll be recommending this book to everyone."--ANN PATCHETT
"[A] gorgeous and powerful debut."--TOMMY ORANGE, The New York Times
"A stunning read."--KHALED HOSSEINI
"Utterly addictive, Good People will have everyone talking."--PAULA HAWKINS
In a haunting debut novel that reads like true crime, told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, a private tragedy thrusts one family into the court of public opinion as the media--and their own community--dissect every aspect of their lives.
ONE OF THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2026 SO FAR
Zorah Sharaf could do no wrong. Zorah Sharaf brought shame upon her family. What's the truth? Depends on who you ask.
The Sharaf family is the picture of success. Prosperous, rich, happy. They came to this country as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighborhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father's eye.
When an unthinkable tragedy strikes, everyone is left reeling. There is talk that behind closed doors the Sharafs' happy household was anything but. Did the Sharaf family achieve the American dream? Or was the image of the model immigrant family just a façade?
Like a literary game of ping-pong,
Good People compels the reader to reconsider what might have happened even on the previous page. It's a riveting, provocative story of family--sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and the communities that claim us as family in difficult times.
Review Citations:
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Booklist 01/01/2026 (EAN 9780593801062, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
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Publishers Weekly 02/02/2026 (EAN 9780593801062, Hardcover)
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Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2026 (EAN 9780593801062, Hardcover)
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