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A Thousand Touches
Paperback
General FictionLiterary Fiction
Publisher Price: $20.99
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Published: Nov 24 2026
Pages: 410
Weight: 1.04
Height: 0.91 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Friday Night Lights meets The Kite Runner set in Bourbon Country.
In David Shams's affecting novel, high school sports, complicated family dynamics, and unexpected first love play out against the insular backdrop of small-town Kentucky... Written with particular insight, skillfully showing how immigrant parents can often compartmentalize trauma and unresolved grief to assimilate and achieve the American Dream.
- BlueInk Review
An Iranian American teenager navigates bigotry, first love, and his mysterious family history in David Shams's introspective novel A Thousand Touches... Cyrus's sardonic narration is engaging and revealing... Rich sensory details bring summer in rural Kentucky to life... A candid coming-of-age novel in which intergenerational trauma affects the lives of a mixed-race family in small-town America.
- Foreword Clarion Review
A thoughtful and emotionally engaging coming-of-age novel about family, identity, ambition, and the complicated experience of growing up between cultures... Shams gives these competing influences room to coexist, creating a story that feels personal and culturally specific while remaining accessible to a wide audience.
- Literary Titan
A small town. A first love. A season that changes everything.
In Bardstown, Kentucky, the Bourbon Capital of the World, Cyrus Soltani is used to standing out. He's the star of his high school soccer team, chasing a state championship in his senior year. He's also the son of an Iranian immigrant father who expects more than victories on the field and of a town that never quite lets him forget he doesn't fully belong.
As the season intensifies, so do the pressures at home and in the stands. Then Isabella arrives-an Italian exchange student who sees Cyrus clearly and challenges him in ways no one else does. What begins as a bright, consuming first love quickly becomes entangled in everything Cyrus is trying to outrun.
In the end, growing up isn't just about leaving-it's about deciding what you carry with you.
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