The Writing On My Forehead
  • Published: 17 October 2016
  • ISBN: 9781784756956
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $30.00

The Writing On My Forehead

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'A moving meditation on the meaning of family, tradition and the ties that bind' Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner

Free-spirited and rebellious, Saira has grown up in California with her beautiful, obedient sister Ameena. From childhood, she has broken the boundaries between her desire for independence and her family's traditions - in particular, her Bombay-bred mother's idea of how girls should behave. Now, hungry for experience and curious about the world, Saira travels to Karachi for a wedding, and stumbles on family secrets that will shape the rest of her life.

It's the beginning of a journey of understanding and reconciliation that goes back three generations. Further surprises are to come as Saira visits London and discovers the political forces that have driven her father's family, in India and in England. As her background gradually reveals itself, Saira finds that the battles she faces - over love, belonging and fulfilment - have faced others before, and comes to realise that her many-layered inheritance is a thing to be treasured.

In a beautifully written and deeply moving narrative, Nafisa Haji explores issues of displacement and belonging and the lure of family, home and tradition versus career and the excitement of the wider world - for men as well as women.
  • Published: 17 October 2016
  • ISBN: 9781784756956
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $30.00
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About the author

Nafisa Haji

Nafisa Haji is an American Muslin of Indo-Pakistani descent. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in northern California with her husband and son. She has served on the board at the Marin Interfaith Council, representing the International Association of Sufism, and has also served on the board of Freedom Forward, an organization working to ensure the alignment of American ideals of freedom with the reality of American foreign policy.

Praise for The Writing On My Forehead

Nafisa Haji has written a moving meditation on the meaning of family, tradition, and the ties that bind. The Writing on My Forehead is lyrical and touching. It is a story of mother and daughters, and a story of a young Muslim woman at crossroads, shaped by the forces of her past, her religion, her roots, her culture, and her own determined will

Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

Impressive ... Haji achieves an effortless commingling of family and social history in this intricate story that connects a young woman and her family over continents and through generations

Publishers Weekly

A superb debut ... Deeply moving and involving

Red

Compelling ... An impressive debut

The Gloss Magazine

Haji deftly positions her appealing heroine as witness to her family's history . . . A masterful first novel

Booklist