Author: Etaf Rum
Started: Mar. 4, 2021
Finished: Mar. 6, 2021
Deya, a young Arab woman living in Brooklyn with her grandparents and sisters, is meeting suitors chosen for her by her grandmother. She is just 18 and not ready for marriage. Deya's story reminds her grandparents of two other women in the family...Isra, Deya's mother, and Sarah, her aunt. Both women, despite being raised in very different worlds, wanted the same thing...freedom.
On her journey to discover who she is, Deya learns her mother's story of arranged marriage and the tragedy of how her parents really died. Upon learning this information, Deya embraces a factor she never considered in her life...choice.
I do not know what took me so long to read this book. I was immediately drawn into the story and cared about what happened to Isra, Sarah, and Deya. I loved the back and forth from one character to another while their stories opened up and they began to deal with their separate issues. This was a well-written story that showed lives that those who are not Arab may not be aware of...the need of the older generation to follow cultural norms while the new generation fights for their freedom.