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We Meant Well
Sales and Market Bullets
- RIPPED-FROM-THE-HEADLINES FICTION WITH A BOOK CLUB GUIDE: Tackles the issue of sexual misconduct that will incite discussion about how we can reconcile our positive intentions with thousands of unforeseen negative consequences. Reading guide available at ecwpress.com.
- WHITE PRIVILEGE IN INTERNATIONAL AID: As a brown woman who has worked in international aid herself, Erum Shazia Hasan understands what it’s like to experience white privilege in a place where everyone is darker than her, but still be othered by the white people she works with. In We Meant Well, Erum channels those experiences into writing about Maya, who is confronted with the complexities of her identity in a much more direct way.
- FOR READERS OF CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE AND ZADIE SMITH: For readers that care about politics, social justice, class and race-based issues, and enjoy postcolonial literature
- PUBLISHING DIVERSE VOICES: The author and main character are both South Asian, and the book specifically speaks to the experience of being brown in Black and white spaces.
Audience
- Readers who like literary books with a commercial hook
- Readers of books like The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall
- Book clubs
“Unsparing and compassionate…A novel of harrowing eloquence, We Meant Well explores compelling cultural contrasts and the ambiguity of charitable outreach.” — Foreword Reviews
“Hasan tantalizes readers: she opts not for a neat and tidy ending, but instead positions her characters for a destiny-defining reckoning beyond the page.” — Shelf Awareness
“With a daring use of craft both exacting in detail and sensual in tone, Erum Shazia Hasan has written a compelling novel of one woman’s struggle to restore her equilibrium, her humanity, and ultimately her truth amid the betrayals of her personal world and the threatening chaos of her professional life. We Meant Well is a remarkable literary debut by a gifted new voice.” — CS Richardson, award-winning author of All the Colour in the World
“We Meant Well is an urgent and engrossing read about intention versus impact. Hasan’s storytelling shines as her international aid worker protagonist confronts the scandal and heartbreak of a sexual assault accusation, while coping with her own messy and crumbling personal life.” — Farzana Doctor, award-winning author of Seven and Six Metres of Pavement
“We Meant Well, in the diverting manner of a whodunit, grips the reader from the first page.” — Miramichi Reader
“An extremely well-written story that engages the reader from the very beginning … Thought-provoking and powerful.” — Booked in the City blog
“Uncomfortable, insightful, and nuanced, We Meant Well explores the shattered legacy of colonialism, the impossibility of doing good without mixed motivations, and the painful power dynamics that underpin aid work around the world.” — Open Book
“Erum Shazia Hasan’s We Meant Well is a fast-paced and unputdownable debut that grapples with questions of charity and power, asking what it means to be charitable, who deserves what, and who gets the power to decide…This is a tense, challenging, and thought-provoking book that raises critical questions about the West’s involvement in the global South, and the uncomfortable conflicts that exist in humanitarian and foreign aid work.” — Shedoesthecity
“Though these coalescing personal dilemmas might risk making the novel convoluted, they instead make it richer, with Hasan giving each crisis the evaluation it needs…This emotional acuity, mixed in with thought-provoking moral questions, makes the novel a fascinating and illuminating journey for any reader.” — Broadview Magazine
“Hasan tantalizes readers: she opts not for a neat and tidy ending, but instead positions her characters for a destiny-defining reckoning beyond the page.” — Shelf Awareness
“With a daring use of craft both exacting in detail and sensual in tone, Erum Shazia Hasan has written a compelling novel of one woman’s struggle to restore her equilibrium, her humanity, and ultimately her truth amid the betrayals of her personal world and the threatening chaos of her professional life. We Meant Well is a remarkable literary debut by a gifted new voice.” — CS Richardson, award-winning author of All the Colour in the World
“We Meant Well is an urgent and engrossing read about intention versus impact. Hasan’s storytelling shines as her international aid worker protagonist confronts the scandal and heartbreak of a sexual assault accusation, while coping with her own messy and crumbling personal life.” — Farzana Doctor, award-winning author of Seven and Six Metres of Pavement
“We Meant Well, in the diverting manner of a whodunit, grips the reader from the first page.” — Miramichi Reader
“An extremely well-written story that engages the reader from the very beginning … Thought-provoking and powerful.” — Booked in the City blog
“Uncomfortable, insightful, and nuanced, We Meant Well explores the shattered legacy of colonialism, the impossibility of doing good without mixed motivations, and the painful power dynamics that underpin aid work around the world.” — Open Book
“Erum Shazia Hasan’s We Meant Well is a fast-paced and unputdownable debut that grapples with questions of charity and power, asking what it means to be charitable, who deserves what, and who gets the power to decide…This is a tense, challenging, and thought-provoking book that raises critical questions about the West’s involvement in the global South, and the uncomfortable conflicts that exist in humanitarian and foreign aid work.” — Shedoesthecity
“Though these coalescing personal dilemmas might risk making the novel convoluted, they instead make it richer, with Hasan giving each crisis the evaluation it needs…This emotional acuity, mixed in with thought-provoking moral questions, makes the novel a fascinating and illuminating journey for any reader.” — Broadview Magazine
There are no awards found for this book.
