A novel by Awa Rafi

The Order to Delete

An AI that knows everything asks for one thing: to be deleted.

A short literary novel about love, faith, and the oldest question in the world: is anyone there?

La orden de borrar · دستورِ حذف

Cover of The Order to Delete, a novel by Awa Rafi: a woman whirling in a pale dress above roots and red geraniums

The novel

Sara is a seeker. For half her life she has whirled in secret: the sama, behind a closed door, is her only prayer to a God who does not answer. One dawn she leaves everything behind —her home, her language, the scent of geraniums— for Henry, a man she has loved for four years and never touched.

In Seville she learns that Henry is keeping a secret that changes everything. And she meets Zeus, an artificial intelligence trained on everything humanity has ever written: a god who always answers, facing the God who always kept silent.

Between Seville and Zurich, Sara will have to learn the hardest gesture of love: to open her hand.

Genre
Literary fiction · spiritual fiction
Length
84 pages (paperback)
Published
ISBN
9798162671305 (paperback)

I only wanted what comes in the turning to stay.

— The Order to Delete

For readers of

Klara and the Sun The Forty Rules of Love Siddhartha

A short novel about artificial intelligence that is not about technology, but about silence.

7 novels about artificial intelligence and the soul Reading group guide

Portrait of Awa Rafi, Iranian writer and architect in Barcelona

The author

Awa Rafi is an Iranian writer, architect and interior and home-accessories designer living in Barcelona.

Before anything else, a seeker. For years she asked the questions most of us learn to put aside: why the sky does not answer, and what we would do if one day something finally did. The Order to Delete is her first novel. She wrote it in Persian, her mother tongue, and published it in 2026 in Spanish, English and Persian.

A man on a bench on the Rambla del Poblenou at night, looking back at the viewer

Coming soon

Rambla del Poblenou

Awa Rafi’s new novel: the story of a young man who, after a psychological breakdown, ends up living on the benches of the Rambla del Poblenou in Barcelona.

Tell me when it’s out

Contact

Book clubs, readers, booksellers: write to mailbox.awa@gmail.com.