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Content snapshot
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Violence
None
No violence
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Adult relationships; nothing explicit
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
The weight of family estrangement; the tension between faith and belonging; a son who cannot be what his parents need
What this book is about
At Hadia's wedding, her estranged younger brother Amar returns after years away. The family — Layla and Rafiq and their three daughters and a son — gathers in a California home heavy with things unsaid. Fatima Farheen Mirza's debut novel moves backward through time from the wedding, revealing how Amar became the one who left, what Hadia sacrificed for the family's image, and what Layla and Rafiq gave up to build a life in America as devout Muslims. A luminous, patient portrait of a family and the gap between the love they had and the language they never found for it.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
themes of religion, identity, and family estrangement
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