Ramadan Ramsey

The Guggenheim and Whiting Award-winning author makes his long-awaited comeback with this epic tale, spanning from the Deep South to the Middle East, that bridges four countries, two cultures, and three families who struggle to love and survive in the face of war, natural disasters, and other calamities beyond their control.

Ramadan Ramsey is the improbable love story between Alicia Ramsey, a ninth generation New Orleans African American, and Mustafah Tota, a Syrian refugee in the city’s Ninth Ward. Through a series of familial betrayals, Mustafah returns to Syria unaware that Alicia is carrying his child.

When the baby is born, Alicia names their son Ramadan and raises him with the help of her mother, Mama Joon. But tragedy strikes when Hurricane Katrina barrels into New Orleans, shattering the Ramsey family. Years later, when Ramadan turns seventeen, he sets off to find Mustafah. It is an odyssey filled with breathtaking and brilliant adventures that takes the young man from the familiar world of NOLA to Egypt, Istanbul, and finally Syria, where he hopes to reunite with the father he has never known.

Beautiful, atmospheric, emotionally rich, this compelling novel offers a fresh perspective on the immigrant experience and what it means to feel homeless in one’s own homeland. Ramadan Ramsey is a reminder of Louis Edwards’ immense talent and fearless storytelling and is a welcome return of this literary light.