FALSE PROPHET
BY AFSHEEN FARHADI
The cult drama of The Girls meets Yellowface’s searing exploration of lies, immigration, and identity in this propulsive literary thriller debut.
A grieving actor-turned-memoirist reimagines his mother’s encounter with Jim Jones, the deadliest cult leader of all time—the only problem is, it’s mostly all lies …
Out July 7, 2026
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Actor Jal Persad is enjoying moderate success when the death of his mother, Rita, sends him into a tailspin—after all, how could he grieve a woman he barely knew? Rita had grown up in Guyana during the rise and fall of the Jonestown cult, but never spoke of her home to Jal, always keeping him at a distance.
After months of avoiding work, a misunderstanding at lunch with his manager leads Jal into a web of lies. He soon finds himself writing a memoir of his mother’s adolescence, one that places her in direct contact with Jim Jones himself. There’s just one issue–Rita never met the man. Suddenly, the book goes viral, and Jal must face the looming threat of exposure, and his own guilt.
Alternating between Jal’s rapid rise and Rita’s distorted story, False Prophet confronts the intergenerational legacy of colonialism, the allure of power, and the age-old question–how much of yourself are you willing to lose in order to succeed?
“An up-and-coming actor fabricates his late mother’s life story […] in Farhadi’s beguiling debut.[…] Toggling between Jal’s present-day narrative and the made-up story of Rita, Farhadi offers keen insights into the power of lies to both create and destroy.”
Publishers Weekly Review
“False Prophet is a tense literary thriller about how what feels true can become more real than reality.”
Starred Review in Foreword Reviews