Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2019
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali provides a timely and achingly honest portrait of what it's like to grow up feeling unwelcome in your own culture, and proves that love conquers all.
Unable to come out to her conservative Muslim parents, Rukhsana Ali keeps that part of her identity hidden. And that means keeping her girlfriend, Ariana, a secret from them too. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life at home and a fresh start at Caltech in the fall. But when Rukhsana's mom catches her and Ariana together, her future begins to collapse around her.
Devastated and confused, Rukhsana's parents whisk her off to stay with their extended family in Bangladesh, where she is met with a culture of arranged marriages, religious tradition, and intolerance. Fortunately, Rukhsana finds allies along the way, and, through reading her grandmother's old diary, finds the courage to stand up for her beliefs, take control of her future, and fight for her love.
"Starred Review. With an up-close depiction of the intersection of the LGBTQIA+ community with Bengali culture, this hard-hitting and hopeful story is a must-purchase for any YA collection." - School Library Journal
"The complicated plot and the large cast of characters, both in Seattle and in Bangladesh, occasionally overwhelm, but Rukhsana's voice offers a steady blend of compassion and humor as she schemes - with several likable allies - to follow her dreams, perhaps at the cost of losing her family." - Publishers Weekly
"This book will break your heart and then, chapter by chapter, piece it back together again. Chock-full of diversity and powerful representation, The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali is a much-needed addition to any YA shelf." -- Sandhya Menon, New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi
"Sabina Khan crafts a powerful, poignant story about finding yourself, about speaking your truth, and about stepping out of the shadows and into the light. Readers will be cheering for Rukhsana from the moment they meet her on the page." - Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Love, Hate and Other Filters
"A daring and timely novel, The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali delves head-and-heart-first into the universal complexities of navigating duty and desire, tradition and modernity, and friends and family - the one we are born into and the one we choose; the friends who are family, and the family we strive to befriend - all through the prism of multicultured identity. Political, personal, page-turning. Sabina Khan is one to watch." - Tanuja Desai Hidier, author of Born Confused
"Bold, heartbreaking, yet hopeful. A story that will stay with you for years to come." - Sara Farizan, Lambda Award-winning author of If You Could Be Mine
"The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali unapologetically explores the complex ties between families, friends, and intersectional diversity. Khan brings talent and voice in this brilliant novel that will keep you reading until the very last page." - Nisha Sharma, author of My So-Called Bollywood Life
This information about The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sabina Khan writes about Muslim teens who straddle cultures. She was born in Germany, spent her teens in Bangladesh, and lived in Macao, Illinois, and Texas before settling down in British Columbia with her husband, two daughters, and the best puppy in the world. Visit her online at sabina-khan.com.
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