Shortlisted for the DSC Prize 2019

Laconic, sharp and playful, 99 Nights in Logar is a stunning coming-of-age novel and a portrait of Afghanistan like no other, from an unforgettable new voice

Me and Gul and Zia and Dawoud out on the roads of Logar, together, for the first time, hoping to get Budabash back home before nightfall

It is 2005 in Logar, Afghanistan, and twelve-year-old Marwand has returned from America with his family for the summer. He loses the tip of his finger to the village dog, Budabash, who then escapes. Marwand's quest to find Budabash, over 99 nights, begins.

The resulting search is an exuberantly told adventure, one that takes Marwand and his cousins across Logar, through mazes, into floods and unexpected confrontations with American soldiers. Moving between celebrations and tragedies, Marwand must confront family secrets and his own identity as he returns to a home he's missed for six years. Deeply humorous and surprisingly tender, 99 Nights in Logar is a vibrant exploration of the power of stories - the ones we tell each other, and the ones we find ourselves in.

'Charming and unpredictable ... A narrative style fizzing with surprise' Observer
'A revelation, in every sense of the word' Justin Torres
'Ferocious, funny, rude, and freewheeling' Karan Mahajan

Jamil Jan Kochai was born in Pakistan and grew up in the United States. He has a Masters in English from UC Davis and is a Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His fiction has appeared, or is forthcoming, in A Public Space, Ploughshares, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. 99 Nights in Logar is his debut novel.