Abscond
A Short Story
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Abscond
Buy Now for $2.99
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Narrated by:
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Fajer Al-Kaisi
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By:
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Abraham Verghese
About this listen
Fate challenges a boy to find his place in the world in a powerful short story from Abraham Verghese, the New York Times bestselling author of The Covenant of Water.
It’s a New Jersey summer in 1967, and thirteen-year-old Ravi Ramanathan has the makings of a tennis prodigy. His surgeon father encourages his ambition, while his mother dreams of their only child following his father’s path. Surrounded by his parents’ love, Ravi chafes a bit at their daily routines and little traditions. Then one unexpected day, everything changes. Realizing how much he took for granted, Ravi must grow up overnight and find a new role in the life of his family.
©2025 by Abraham Verghese. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Critic Reviews
"Even though the story is written in the third person, Fajer Al-Kaisi's use of a clear, deep voice for the narrative suggests an adult Ravi who is thinking back on a day in his youth that changed his life. For Ravi's remembered dialogue as a teen, Al-Kaisi uses a voice that is higher and less sure. He renders Tamil phrases naturally alongside American teen slang, reflecting Ravi's own bicultural experience."—AudioFile Magazine