A Great Country: A Novel

#1 International Bestseller

Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize & New American Voices Award

Amazon Top 10 Editors Pick

Named a Best Book of the Year by Elle , Cosmo , Real Simple , Glamour , Conde Nast , Readers Digest , & more

"A premise that would (and should) translate well to a prestige television series."— Elle

" The best...book I read this year was Gowda's timely and touching A Great Country ."— San Diego Union-Tribune

Pacific Hills, California: Gated communities, ocean views, well-tended lawns, serene pools, and now the new home of the Shah family. For the Shah parents, who came to America twenty years earlier with little more than an education and their new marriage, this move represents the culmination of their pursuit of the American dream. For their children, born and raised in America, success is not so simple.

For the most part, these differences among the five members of the Shah family are minor irritants, arguments between parents and children, older and younger siblings. But one Saturday night, the twelve-year-old son is arrested. The fallout from that event in this gripping family saga will shake each family member’s perception of themselves as individuals, as community members, as Americans, and will lead each to consider: how do we define success? At what cost comes ambition? And what is our role and responsibility in the cultural mosaic of modern America?

For readers of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, this powerful work of literary fiction explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege as it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.