About this item
For readers of The Tyrant's Daughter, Out of Nowhere, and I Am Malala, this poignant story about two Muslim sisters is about love, loss, religion, forgiveness, women's rights, and freedom. Two sisters. Two lives. One future. Sohane loves no one more than her beautiful, carefree younger sister, Djelila. And she hates no one as much. They used to share everything. But now, Djelila is spending more time with her friends, partying, and hanging out with boys, while Sohane is becoming more religious. When Sohane starts wearing a head scarf, her school threatens to expel her. Meanwhile, Djelila is harassed by neighborhood bullies for not being Muslim enough. Sohane can't help thinking that Djelila deserves what she gets. But she never could have imagined just how far things would go. . . . An Amelia Bloomer Project List Selection A CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book of the YearA Bank Street Best Book of the Year with Outstanding Merit "Sarn's poignant novel surely raises issues of religious freedom, but it is foremost a coming-of-age story about personal choice and the uniquely powerful bond between sisters." - The Horn Book Magazine "[A] moving story, which provides rich material for conversation about family relations, religious identity, and civil liberties." - Publisher's Weekly "Thought-provoking." - Kirkus Reviews "Important and timely." - BOOKLIST "In seamless chapters transitioning between present and past, this short, fast-paced, tragic story contrasting two clearly drawn Muslim sisters explores similar contemporary cultural and religious issues portrayed in Randa Abdel-Fattah's Does My Head Look Big in This?" - School Library Journal "A fair and balanced look at not just two equal and opposite perspectives on these issues, but at the multiple, refracted, messy nuances in between." - The Bulletin "A searing portrait of the conflicts within a culture." - VOYA "Sarn writes with concise, timely insight about culture, religion, and politics, but what lingers most is the powerful bonds of sisterhood." - smithsonianapa.org From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Rachel spent her twenties in China as a consultant, writer, and the unlikely star of a nighttime soap opera called "Foreign Babes in Beijing." Her memoir of those years, Foreign Babes in Beijing, has been published in six countries and is being developed as a television series by HBO. Her novel Repeat After Me, about a young American ESL teacher, a troubled Chinese radical, and their unexpected New York romance, won a Foreward Magazine Book of the Year award. Her third book, the novel Big Girl Small, is forthcoming from FSG in 2011. Rachel has a BA in English from Columbia and an MFA in poetry from Boston University. Rachel divides her time between NYC, Chicago, and Beijing with her husband, playwright Zayd Dohrn, and their two little girls.
