Zain Khalid’s assured debut novel, Brother Alive, is an impressive feat of literary ambition and intellectual heft. It tells the story of Iseul, Dayo, and Youssef – three adopted brothers who are haunted by the ghosts of a past that was never fully revealed to them.
One of the traces left by this hidden history is manifested in the strange form of a shape-shifting figure called Brother, who follows Youssef throughout his life, seeming to be a metaphysical meeting point between Max Porter’s Dead Papa Toothwort and one of Philip Pullman’s daemons. The brothers are raised by the enigmatic Imam Salim, who appears to be taking part in private battles of his own, and who eventually abandons the brothers, leaving them with even more unanswered questions than they already had. When the brothers begin to uncover the truth behind their heritage, this leads them to follow Imam Salim to Saudi Arabia, to face the leader of a would-be new world.
As this precis suggests, this is a complex and sometimes convoluted read, but Khalid is a hugely talented writer, capable of convincing characterisation and disarmingly poetic prose. Brother Alive is an imperfect novel, but one that marks the arrival of a huge new talent.
Brother Alive, Zain Khalid (Grove)
Price: £14.99. Info: here
words JOSHUA REES