"The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan" by Salma Hussain (no relation), is a middle grade novel that is exactly what it says on the cover, it is, literally, the secret diary of Mona Hasan, a young girl going through a particularly important year of her life, namely 1991. So it's a period piece as well, from back before the days of the internet.
So I was incredibly blessed to have been traditionally published for my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon" last year and it's a speculative historical novel that follows a young woman defending her Muslim matriarchal society through her mastery of Islamic law, but one of the things that comes with being traditionally published is...
Yesterday was the one year book anniversary of my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon" and I'm going to try and celebrate it by actually speaking about it for a change.
Because...
I usually don't respond to reviews of my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon" but there was a review that made a very interesting point about my novel and I think it's appropriate to talk about it here in the last few days of Muhurram which is a very important time for me as a Shia Muslim.
Thanks to the wonderful Hollay Ghadery, I was invited to launch my novel in Hamilton at The City and The City Books and it was a wonderful time.
The least important part of Pizza Before We Die by Hassan Kanafani is my tiny little contribution to it which is a blurb that you'll find just inside the cover. It was my honour to have read the manuscript before publication and provide a few sentences for endorsement. Long story short, this is a necessary read 5/5 stars. Please, request it at your library, borrow it, buy a copy for yourself and friends, and above all read it, and be inspired by it, to action.
The holy month of Ramadan is coming to a close and that means Eid-Ul-Fitr is coming. This is one of the most festive times of the year for Muslims and it's why in my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon" the opening scene is of a moonsighting event that will determine if it even is the end of Ramadan.
So as the holy month of Ramadan has started I wanted to talk about the role the month plays in my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon", and the answer is... it doesn't.
It's an strange thing to wonder if a sock puppet is a reliable narrator, but that's just one of the many thoughts raised by The Unraveling of Ou by Hollay Ghadery which is a novel narrated entirely by a sock puppet named Ou. This seemingly silly premise is used to great effect to tackle themes of mental illness, generational trauma, and internalized misogyny. It's an easy four out of five stars for me and easy to recommend to anyone interested in these sadly timeless issues. Or just wants to experience an incredibly beautifully written and insightful introspective tale about the mental prisons that we build for ourselves or are built for us by our circumstances.