Book cover of The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali

Book description

A timely and honest coming-of-age story that explores the complicated
relationship between identity, culture, family, and love.


Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali tries her hardest to live up to her
conservative Muslim parents' expectations, but lately she's finding
that impossible to do. She rolls her eyes when they blatantly
favour her brother…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I can’t resist a queer femme YA story, and this one hit me so hard that I cried in joy and heartbreak.

Young lovers separated by culture and family made a Shakespearean drama that gripped me to the last word.

The world of arranged marriages, family honor, and homophobia reminded me of personal stories from friends in Vancouver. It echoed the fights that many queer people face coming out to family and being their true selves.

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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