The Wild Ones

Nafiza Azad

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781534484979
• eBook ISBN: 9781534484986

“Utterly unique storytelling…a tale that refuses to flinch.” — Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights

From William C. Morris Finalist Nafiza Azad comes a thrilling, feminist fantasy about a group of teenage girls endowed with special powers who must band together to save the life of the boy whose magic saved them all.

We are the Wild Ones, and we will not be silenced.

We are girls who have tasted the worst this world can offer. Our story begins with Paheli, who was once betrayed by her mother, sold to a man in exchange for a favor. When Paheli escaped, she ran headlong into Taraana—a boy with stars in his eyes, a boy as battered as she was. He tossed Paheli a box of stars before disappearing. With the stars, Paheli gained access to the Between, a place of pure magic and mystery. Now, Paheli collects girls like us, and we use our magic to travel the world, helping to save other girls from our pain, our scars.

When Taraana reappears, he asks for our help. Dangerous magical forces are chasing him, and they will destroy him to get his powers. We will do everything to save him—if we can. For if Taraana is no longer safe and free, neither are the Wild Ones. And that is a fate that we refuse to accept. Ever again.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• 1. The Beginning, or How Paheli Became the First Wild One; With a Cameo by Taraana, the Boy Made of Stars.
• 2. The Sweetness in the Sugarcane, or The Impractical Nature of Immortality
• 3. Paheli: The Vagrant Experiences of a Mango Addict
• 4. Cotton Candy Sugar Screams
• 5. “Will You Walk into My Parlor?” Said the Spider to the Fly.
• 6. The Best Ice Cream in the World, Teddy Bears, and a Tree Creature.
• 7. The Reappearance of the Boy Made of Stars and the Plight of the Girl by the Oleander Lane.
• 8. Paheli: An Interlude in Blue
• 9. Besieged in the Between
• 10. Tea, the City of Stairs, and the Story of a Boy
• 11. Heartbreak, Stone Buildings, and Tandoori
• 12. Observations, Conversations, and Hot Parantha
• 13. Paheli: The Spies Who Came In from the Between
• 14. The French Quarter, the Spanish Half, and Eulalie
• 15. Paheli: The Eggplant Overture
• 16. Sunny Jelly Beans, Po’Boys, and “Alouette”
• 17. The Keeper of the Green and the Mysteries of Magic
• 18. Blood and the Between
• 19. The Library of the Lost and the Stories of the Silenced
• 20. Walking in Wicked Ways or The Importance of Balık Ekmek
• 21. Looking for the Needle in the Haystack
• 22. Paheli: The Peculiar Crackle in the Electricity
• 23. Ten Degrees Past Despair
• 24. The Fault in the Stars
• 25. The Blue City in the Mountains
• 26. Paheli: Disharmony in the Attics
• 27. Paheli: Continued
• 28. The Politics of a Body, the Politics of Pleasure
• 29. The Medina, the Riad, and the Red City
• 30. Paheli: The Atlas Mountains, the Cozy Rooftop, and the Confession, Possibly of Love
• 31. Souks, Spices, and Survival: A Guide into Chaos
• 32. Jemaa el-Fna: The Mosque at the End of the World
• 33. Paheli: A Moment in Chartreuse
• 34. Paheli: On the Frailties of the Heart
• 35. Sonagi, or A Sudden Rain
• 36. Paheli: The Cheese in the Trap
• 37. Paheli: The Maze and the Minotaur
• 38. A New Era, a New Dar; the River Sings
• 39. The Burning Door, the Fallen City, and Taraana 2.0
• 40. Paheli: The Beginning of Forever
• 41. Moving One Rock at a Time Will Eventually Move a Mountain, aka Goodbye
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Copyright