David and Ameena

Modern-day New York, a subway train. David, an American-Jewish jazz musician, torn between his dreams and his parents’ expectations, sees a woman across the carriage. Ameena, a British-Pakistani artist who left Manchester to escape the pressure from her conservative family, sees David.

When a moment of sublime beauty occurs unexpectedly, the two connect, moved by their shared experience. From this flows a love that it appears will triumph above all. But as David and Ameena navigate their relationship, their ambitions and the city they love, they discover the external world is not so easy to keep at bay.

Ami Rao’ s masterful debut novel picks apart the lives of two people, stripping them of their collective identities and, in doing so, facing up to the challenge of today: can love give us the freedom to accept our differences?

Ami Rao is a British-American writer who was born in Calcutta, India and has lived and worked in New York City, London, Paris, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Ami has a BA in English Literature and Economics from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and was most recently a banking professional in the City of London. When she is not reading, writing, cooking, eating, sailing or dancing, she can be found listening to jazz, her ‘ one great unrequited love’ . She also mentors girls of colour, with a keen emphasis on the merits of reading and education.

She co-wrote a sports memoir, Centaur, which was published in 2018. The book won the General Outstanding Sports Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2017. Her debut novel, David and Ameena, was published by Fairlight Books in 2021.