This Is Where the Serpent Lives

by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniyal Mueenuddin weaves together dozens of complex characters in a story about survival, community and power.

A stunning new work from universally acclaimed Daniyal Mueenuddin, whose debut short story collection won the Story Prize and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE. NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026: Town & Country, Bustle, AARP, Kirkus

Moving from Pakistan’s dazzling chaotic cities to its lawless feudal countryside, This Is Where the Serpent Lives powerfully evokes contemporary feudal Pakistan, following the destinies of a dozen unforgettable characters whose lives are linked through violence and tragedy, triumph, and love. Orphaned as a little boy and fending for himself in the city streets, Yazid rises to a place of responsibility and respect in the Lahore household of Colonel Atar, a powerful industrialist and politician, only to find that position threatened by conflicting loyalties and misplaced trust. Born on Colonel Atar’s country estate to a poor gardener, Saqib is entrusted with the management of a pioneering business, but he overreaches and finds himself an outlaw, confronting the violence of the corrupt Punjab Police. The colonel’s son competes with his cherished brother for the love of a woman and discovers that her choice colors his life with unexpected darkness as well as light.

In matters of power and money and the heart, Mueenuddin’s characters struggle to choose between paths that are moral and just and more worldly choices that allow them to survive in the systems of caste, capital, and social power that so tightly grip their culture. Intimate and epic, elegiac and profoundly moving, This Is Where the Serpent Lives is a tour de force destined to become a classic of contemporary literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525655152
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/13/2026
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

DANIYAL MUEENUDDIN was brought up in Lahore, Pakistan, and Elroy, Wisconsin. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, his stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, and The Best American Short Stories 2008, selected by Salman Rushdie. His collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. For a number of years he practiced law in New York. He now divides his time between Oslo, Norway, and his farm in Pakistan’s South Punjab.

Editorial Reviews

“The magic in This Is Where the Serpent Lives is the up-close work. Mueenuddin makes the reader care about the romantic relationships, and the pages turn themselves. . . . It’s a serious book that you’ll be hearing about again when the shortlists for the big literary prizes are announced.” —The New York Times

“Mr. Mueenuddin’s characters are vividly drawn, and though his prose is spare, it also offers phrases of great beauty. In these strengths, Mr. Mueenuddin recalls Anton Chekhov.” —The Wall Street Journal

“This Is Where the Serpent Lives maps an entire society in flux over six decades while presenting half a dozen portraits of contradictory, sympathetic, flawed, and utterly believable individuals. This subtle, wide-ranging, and enthralling novel makes some demands of its readers, but repays them in full.” —The Boston Globe

“This Is Where the Serpent Lives was worth the wait. . . . A many-splendored portrait of one of the most interesting and complex countries in the world, and a shining example of the very best in literature.” —The Washington Post

“Stunning. . . . Mueenuddin, whose gift for satire shines whether he’s describing society matrons or gangsters, never loses sight of his theme: How do any of us ever manage to justify our treatment of the underserved?” —Los Angeles Times

“Mueenuddin has crafted a compelling and sweeping meditation on class and corruption in Pakistan.” –Vulture

“The setting in Mueenuddin's debut novel—a modern Pakistan rife with corruption, feudalism and resilience—thrums with such vitality, it can feel like a character in its own right.” —NPR

“Spanning Pakistan’s bustling cities and feudal countryside, this sweeping novel follows three generations of unforgettable people as they grapple with tragedy and triumph, violence and love, and money and power. Absolutely gorgeous.” —People

“Following the lives of characters born with and without privilege, all attached to the estate of a wealthy colonel, and adorned with struggles of the heart, morality, and power, this promises to be one of the year’s seminal literary works.” —Book Riot

“Brutal, funny and brilliantly told. . . . This Is Where the Serpent Lives is set to be a standout novel of 2026.” —The Guardian

“This is Where the Serpent Lives is a sweeping parable of power and fortune, set in Pakistan but with universal application. . . . Mueenuddin is a sort of literary magician. . . . Expect to see this epic novel all over prize lists in 2026.” —The Times (London)

“There’s a poised, timeless quality to the masterful storytelling, which—travelling as it does between parched farms, opulent salons and the immensity of the Pakistani landscape—makes this feel at once like a classic.” —Daily Mail

“A potent and nuanced novel about the abuse of an underclass in ways both subtle and overt. . . . Mueenuddin delivers all this in a graceful style that dignifies the lower-caste characters and intensifies the unjustness of their treatment.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“The story threads cohere into a profound and revelatory portrait of Pakistan’s class divisions. Propulsive and peopled with unforgettable characters, this is a masterpiece.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Mueenuddin brilliantly exploits the narrative possibilities inherent in the tension between lower and upper classes throughout This Is Where the Serpent Lives. Like an actual serpent, this smart, satisfying novel coils and slithers along unpredictable, winding paths. Only the most prescient readers will be able to guess where it’s going and where it will end up.” —BookPage (starred review)

“Intricately layered. . . . Mueenuddin writes cinematically, examining and unraveling relationships with meticulous detail and stinging insights, spotlighting the grey areas between the impossible absolutes of right and wrong.” —Booklist

“Epic. . . . Spanning six decades, this finely textured generational saga probes with rich irony the power dynamics between Western-educated Pakistani elites and the deferential but shrewd underlings who manage their agricultural estates and serve their tea. . . . Crafted with elegant prose, Mueenuddin’s conclusions are infused with thrilling tension.” —Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher