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"The first novel by the
most fabulous writer of all time, Mohja Kahf!"
Syrian immigrant Khadra Shamy is growing up in a devout, tightly knit Muslim
family in 1970s Indiana, at the crossroads of bad polyester and Islamic dress
codes. Along with her brother Eyad and her African-American friends, Hakim and
Hanifa, she bikes the Indianapolis streets exploring the fault-lines between
“Muslim” and “American.”
When her picture-perfect marriage goes sour, Khadra flees to Syria and learns
how to pray again. On returning to America she works in an eastern state —
taking care to stay away from Indiana, where the murder of her friend Tayiba’s
sister by Klan violence years before still haunts her. But when her job sends
her to cover a national Islamic conference in Indianapolis, she’s back on
familiar ground: Attending a concert by her brother’s interfaith band The Clash
of Civilizations, dodging questions from the “aunties” and “uncles,” and running
into the recently divorced Hakim everywhere. Beautifully written and featuring
an exuberant cast of characters, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf charts
the spiritual and social landscape of Muslims in middle America, from five daily
prayers to the Indy 500 car race. It is a riveting debut from an important new
voice.
Format:
Paperback,
448pp, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
Style:
Fiction/Literature
Distributed by: Publishers
Group West August 2006
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