The Runaways cover art

The Runaways

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Runaways

By: Fatima Bhutto
Narrated by: Maya Saroya
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Runaways, written by Fatima Bhutto and read by Maya Saroya.

Anita lives in Karachi's biggest slum. Her mother is a maalish wali, paid to massage the tired bones of rich women. But Anita's life will change forever when she meets her elderly neighbour, a man whose shelves of books promise an escape to a different world. On the other side of Karachi lives Monty, whose father owns half the city and expects great things of him. But when a beautiful and rebellious girl joins his school, Monty will find his life going in a very different direction.

Sunny's father left India and went to England to give his son the opportunities he never had. Yet Sunny doesn't fit in anywhere. It's only when his charismatic cousin comes back into his life that he realises his life could hold more possibilities than he ever imagined.

These three lives will cross in the desert, a place where life and death walk hand-in-hand, and where their closely guarded secrets will force them to make a terrible choice.

©2019 Fatima Bhutto (P)2019 Penguin Audio Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Fiction Suspense

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Truth About These Strange Times cover art
The People of Forever Are Not Afraid cover art
Lucky Boy cover art
A Girl Like That cover art
Protest cover art
Safekeeping cover art
Dallas Noir cover art
The Kite Runner cover art
A Thousand Splendid Suns cover art
The Long Gaze Back cover art
All the Names They Used for God cover art
Redemption Road cover art
The Bricks That Built the Houses cover art
Hum If You Don't Know the Words cover art
You Will Be Safe Here cover art

Critic reviews

A tender, powerful and richly embroidered novel from a courageous storyteller.
From Karachi's slums to England's promises, (through connected cities and intersecting destinies), Bhutto's new novel will move you with its profound wisdom and sharp grasp of our turbulent times. Behind The Runaways, there is clearly a brilliant mind and a generous heart at work.

(Elif Shafak)
Every page of this is priceless. I can't think of a better guide through the world we live in. I've never used the word "transformative" before, but I just did now. (Gary Shteyngart)
A powerful and moving book. It is a book that anyone rushing to condemn young people for being radicalised should read. (Anne Youngson, author of 'Meet Me at the Museum')
As compassionate as it is trenchant, this rare fiction is an illuminating guide through the great disorder of our times. (Pankaj Mishra, author of 'Age of Anger')
Dazzling . . . a novel that holds up to scrutiny a world of claustrophobic war zones, virulent social media and cities collapsing upon themselves, and then sets it down again, transformed by the grace of storytelling (Siddartha Deb, author of 'The Point of Return')
The Runaways is a book we should all read for it holds up a clear mirror to the way societies in many parts of the world are shaping, moulding, distorting and deforming the young. It is a book we all need. (Jerry Pinto, author of 'Em and the Big Hoom')
A big-hearted, beautiful novel. I read it with awe. Fatima Bhutto has an unflinching eye and a unique voice. (Mohammed Hanif, author of 'A Case of Exploding Mangoes')
All stars
Most relevant  
Good narrator, enjoyable journey but as I suspected the ending was disappointing, what happened to the other two characters

First audible book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book and the stories of the characters and their lives complicated by the innocence of their youth and the struggle to find an identity.

The narrator’s mispronunciations were off putting and a real let down but story had me so invested that I didn’t let it spoil my enjoyment.

Really gripping and a wonderful story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An absolutely gripping tale and a trio of characters.
Couldn't not put this down.

Gripping !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this book and I believe it is an important read for ours times. I heard it recommended on the High Low podcast and listening to the author speak about this topic was fascinating. The book shows the different sides to radicalisation and the way in which young people can be drawn into terrorism. A great read, gripping and I finished it in 3 days.

Excellent read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.