Outspoken and opinionated Ayesha Shamsi is a teacher by day and an aspiring poet by night in Uzma Jalaluddin’s refreshing retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Lonely and looking for love, Ayesha is trying to forge her own path while drowning out the peanut gallery that is her Indian Muslim family and its constant reminders of her cousin Hafsa’s many marriage proposals. Enter Khalid Mirza, a handsome yet traditional Muslim man whose conservatism and complacency is at odds with Ayesha’s fiery independence. When they’re forced to work together at their mosque, sparks fly and tension brews. In her 2019 debut novel, Jalaluddin pays tribute to Jane Austen’s source text while incorporating modern updates like discussions about faith and discrimination.
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