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by Tabish Khair
A novel about friendship, faith, and alienation, Just Another Jihadi Jane tells the tale of Islamist radicalization from the inside.
Two children of Muslim immigrants in England's industrial north - thoughtful Jamilla and rebellious Ameena - become best friends, and find in religion and social media a community as welcoming and encouraging as their public education is estranging. After Jamilla's father dies and her brother marries, the two girls leave England and join the Islamist cause in Syria. The intellectual and emotional poverty as well as the violence they find there creates a story as gripping as it is heart-wrenching.
As did All Quiet on the Western Front, Tabish Khair's novel reminds a new generation that heroism and sacrifice are not limited to one side in a conflict, and that the first victims of a murderous regime are those who live within it.
"Starred Review. Was this intense, enlightening novel really written not by a British Muslim girl but a male Indian novelist who lives in Denmark? It seems impossible. Required reading for anyone interested in trying to understand our mad, bloody world." - Kirkus
This information about Just Another Jihadi Jane was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tabish Khair was born in 1966 and educated mostly in Bihar, India. He is the author of several critically acclaimed novels and poetry collections. Winner of the All India Poetry Prize as well as fellowships at Delhi, Cambridge, and Hong Kong, his novels - The Bus Stopped (2004), Filming: A Love Story (2007), The Thing About Thugs (2010), and How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position(2014) - have been translated into several languages and shortlisted for major literary prizes including the Encore Award (UK), the Crossword Prize, the Hindu Best Fiction Prize, the DSC Prize for South Asia (India), and the Man Asian Literary Prize (Hong Kong). He lives in Arhus, Denmark.
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