Three orphaned sisters struggle to raise and love each other in this breathtaking, coming-of-age debut novel from the acclaimed author of If They Come for Us
In this heartrending debut, Fatimah Asghar traces the intense bond of three orphaned sisters who, after their parents die, are left to raise one another. The youngest, Kausar, struggles to be a girl in the ways exemplified by her older sisters, Aisha, the middle sister, spars with her "crybaby" younger sister as she desperately tries to fit in at school, and Noreen, the eldest, does her best in the role of sister-mother: breaking up fights between Kausar and Aisha before they have a chance to begin, sourcing clothing from discarded theater costumes, and bringing home whatever food she comes by.
As Kausar grows up, she must contend with the collision of her private and public worlds, and choose whether to remain in the life of love, sorrow, and codependency she's known or carve out a new path for herself. Asghar tenderly examines the bonds and fractures of sisterhood, names the perils of being three Muslim American girls alone in the world, and ultimately illustrates how those who've lost everything might still make homes in each other. Fatimah Asghar, author of If They Come for Us, is a poet, filmmaker, educator, and performer. She is the writer and co-creator of Brown Girls, an Emmy-nominated web series that highlights friendships between women of color. Along with Safia Elhillo, she is the editor of Halal If You Hear Me, an anthology that celebrates Muslim writers who are also women, queer, gender-nonconforming, and/or trans.
