Martyr!

Heart-wrenching, humorous, and full of wonder.

Cyrus Shams was shaped by a sudden act of unnecessary violence—the Iranian passenger plane carrying his mother was shot down over the Persian Gulf by the American Navy. In the wake of that tragedy, he became—a refugee in the Midwest, an addict, a poet, and more than a little suicidal. He has questions about what it means to have a good death or a life that matters. As part of a writing project, he goes to New York City to interview a mysterious artist speaking to visitors in her dying days at a Brooklyn Museum and the trip exposes more of his past than he knew. This is heart-wrenching, humorous, and full of wonder.