by Uzma Jalaluddin
Berkley, 2019, 351 pages, General Fiction/Romance
Ayesha dreams of travelling the world, becoming a poet, and marrying for love instead of getting an arranged marriage. But she also feels the need to pay off a debt to her wealthy uncle for sponsoring her family when they moved to Canada from Pakistan. When Ayesha’s uncle asks her to accompany her fun-loving cousin, Hafsa, to planning meetings for a conference to raise money for their local mosque, Ayesha feels like she can’t refuse. There Ayesha meets Khalid. Khalid is smart and handsome, but also conservative and judgmental. As Ayesha and Khalid spend more time together, their first opinions of each other give way to something neither of them expected.
There have been a few other Muslim retellings of Pride and Prejudice that came out this year, and like the Pride and Prejudice fangirl I am, I read them all. This one was by far my favorite. Jalaluddin strikes just the right balance of staying true to the original source material while not being afraid to add her own flavor and explore contemporary themes. For example, Ayesha debates between doing the practical things and following her dreams. Khalid faces religious discrimination at work, while simultaneously learning that he shouldn’t always judge people by his personal standards. This is a great update to a timeless classic.
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