April is Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Heritage Month, often celebrated alongside Arab American Heritage Month, and we’re here to celebrate MENA authors in adult fiction. Check out these recent titles to delve deeper into the perspectives of MENA voices across multiple genres.
Things Left Unsaid by Iranian British author Sara Jafari traces the relationship of Shirin and Kian, now in their mid-twenties, who haven’t seen each other since they were the only nonwhite students in their high school. Though the attraction and emotional connection between them is instant and undeniable, they have to work out whether the traumas of their past — and how they continue to show up in the present — will overshadow the possibility of a long-term relationship. A dual-perspective, coming-of-adult novel for fans of literary romance.
For a gritty mystery, check out The End of the Sahara by Algerian writer Saïd Khatibi. In a small town in Algeria as mass protests erupt around the country, a shepherd finds the body of lounge singer Zakia Zaghouani. Investigator Hamid is more focused on his personal life falling apart than doing a thorough investigation, so Zakia’s lover is quickly identified as the primary suspect. Narrated by interconnected characters, the truth of Zakia’s murder and the simmering political tensions both rise to the surface.
Themes of diaspora, family obligation, and grief are explored in The Slightest Green by Sahar Mustafah who, like the main character Intisar, is Palestinian American. Intisar leaves her home in Chicago to visit her father Hafez in Palestine, where he’s dying of cancer and wrecked from years incarcerated in an Israeli prison. By the time she arrives, after being questioned on suspicion of terrorism, Hafez has died and their familial land has been taken. Intisar must decide what she is willing to sacrifice for a land that has both held so much and taken so much from her.
The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri is also narrated by Jonas Khemiri, a Swedish Tunisian who follows the lives of the three titular sisters, Ina, Evelyn, and Anastasia Mikkola. Over several decades and across the world, the sisters and the mysterious Jonas are revealed piece by piece, in seven parts with ever-shortening time spans. The first part occurs over a full year, the last in just one minute; the structure helps the 650 pages go by quickly. As the starred review from Publishers Weekly concludes, “Blending humor and pathos, Khemiri perfectly encapsulates the push and pull of living in two different and sometimes dueling cultures.”
If you’re looking for a banter-filled contemporary romance, look no further than Writing Mr. Right by Alina Khawaja, who is Canadian Pakistani. On the eve of her 30th birthday, Ziya Khan gives up on her hope of publishing a romance novel but makes one final wish on a candle. She wakes up to a strange man in her kitchen who claims to be her literary muse. He helps her rediscover her passions and come out of her shell, but can there be a future with a man who isn’t real?
~posted by Jane S.
