Written in the Stars

January 5, 2015
Raised in a conservative Pakistani immigrant family, 17-year-old Naila has been an obedient daughter for most of her life. However, her American education has exposed her to her classmates’ comparative freedom and allowed her to spend time—and fall in love—with Saif, a Pakistani boy whose family has been ostracized from their community. Her parents’ expectations are clear: “You can choose what you want to be when you grow up, the types of shoes you want to buy.... But your husband, that’s different.” After Naila’s transgression is discovered, she is whisked back to Pakistan and forced into an arranged marriage. In her YA debut, attorney and writer Saeed, a contributor to the collection Love, InshAllah, movingly conveys the intense cultural pressure that motivates Naila’s parents and the heartbreaking betrayal Naila feels as she is deprived of her rights, cut off from the outside world, and threatened with shame and death. Saeed includes resources for those who, like Saif’s family, wish to help real-life Nailas, in this wrenching but hopeful story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Taylor Martindale, Full Circle Literary.

December 15, 2014
A Pakistani-American teen, caught between two cultures, finds herself at risk of losing her independence to a deceptively arranged marriage. Seventeen-year-old Naila just wants to be a normal high school girl who goes to soccer games and dances. But her immigrant parents have strict rules about where and how she spends her time and with whom-and that does not include contact with boys. When they discover that Naila has slipped off to the school prom with her secret Pakistani-American boyfriend, Saif, her parents appear on the dance floor to take her home. Soon after, in lieu of attending graduation and going to college, she is whisked away to Pakistan for a thorough introduction to her roots. While some plot details may feel predictable or strain credulity, readers will be drawn into Naila's trials and tribulations as she navigates the reality of her new life in Pakistan and explores what inner resources she needs to change her fate. Debut author Saeed is a Muslim Pakistani-American writer, teacher and attorney, as well as a founding member of the We Need Diverse Books campaign. A competent narrative that sheds light on the difficult phenomenon of forced marriage, still prevalent in many cultures around the world and often shrouded in silence. (author's note, resources) (Fiction. 12-18)

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December 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Naila is a Pakistani American high school senior. As the story opens, her greatest trouble is the risk of going to the prom with her high school sweetheart against the wishes of her protective and conservative parents. She does anyway, her parents find out, and their reaction is swift and extreme: the family departs immediately for Pakistan and negotiates an arranged marriage for Naila. Her impassioned struggle against the constraints of an arranged marriage is contrived in places, but it is a compelling story nonetheless. This is a cross-cultural eye opener; since Naila had never left the US until she was 18, her first-person account resonates in its explanations of the rituals, especially how they would look and feel from an American point of view. Yet the setting is pure Pakistani, with culturally rich descriptions of Naila's extended family, their cuisine, and strongly held beliefs. The prose is simple and straightforward. Although the book's hallmark is not text complexity, the spare prose is more evocative than stilted: Saeed shows rather than tells, allowing readers to imagine how Naila must feel. There is some violence and sex, both appropriate to the context and the age of the protagonist. A good choice for libraries looking to diversify their shelves.-Amy Thurow, New Glarus School District, WI

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2015
Grades 8-11 Naila knows she will get in trouble for dating Saif, since boyfriends are forbidden by her Pakistani American parents. She feels lucky enough that they are letting her go to college, so she tries to follow their rules as much as possible. But after they catch her and Saif at prom, her parents decide to take her on a month-long trip to visit family in Pakistan. What she doesn't know, however, is that her parents are not planning on taking her home to Florida in time for college; rather, they are arranging a marriage for her in Pakistan and leaving her there. As Naila gradually realizes what's happening, her first-person narrative shifts from delight at meeting family and hopefulness about seeing Saif again to horror at being held against her will, drugged, and trapped in a country where asserting her independence could mean death. Naila's harrowing story is compellingly told, and Saeed includes an afterword about the problem of forced marriages not only in Pakistan but among immigrant communities in the U.S. Stirring, haunting, and ultimately hopeful.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)