The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali
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4.6 • 48 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
With a welcome mix of humor, heart, and high-stakes drama, Sabina Khan provides a timely and honest portrait of what it's like to grow up feeling unwelcome in your own culture.
Praise for The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali
Featured on NBC News and the BBC
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Teen Indie Next List Pick (IndieBound)
An Amazon Best Book of the Month for February
Oprah Magazine's Best YA Books You'll Love in 2019
Seventeen.com's Best YA Books of 2019
B&N Teen Blog's Most Anticipated LGBTQAP Books of 2019
Hypable's Most Anticipated LGBTQ YA Books of 2019
Parade's Buzzworthy YA Books to Read in 2019
BookRiot's Most Anticipated 2019 LGBTQ YA of 2019
Paste Magazine's Best YA Books of January 2019
Short-listed, Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize (BC), 2020
Short-listed, OLA White Pine Award, Fiction, 2019
Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, 2019
Commended, OLA Best Bets: Honourable Mention, 2019
"An intersectional, diverse coming of age story that will break your heart in the best way." -- Bustle.com
* "With an up-close depiction of the intersection of the LGBTQIA+ community with Bengali culture, this hard-hitting and hopeful story is a must-purchase for any YA collection." -- School Library Journal, starred review
"This book will break your heart and then, chapter by chapter, piece it back together again. A much-needed addition to any YA shelf." -- Sandhya Menon, New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi and From Twinkle, With Love
"Heart-wrenching yet hopeful, The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali is an insightful and honest look at the tangled web of identity, culture, familial loyalty, and love. Sabina Khan crafts a powerful, poignant story about finding yourself, about speaking your truth, and about stepping out of the shadows and into the light." -- Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Love, Hate and Other Filters
"A daring and timely novel, The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali delves head-and-heart-first into the universal complexities of navigating duty and desire, tradition and modernity, and friends and family -- the one we are born into and the one we choose; the friends who are family, and the family we strive to befriend -- all through the prism of multicultured identity. Political, personal, page-turning. Sabina Khan is one to watch." -- Tanuja Desai Hidier, author of Born Confused and Bombay Blues
"Bold, heartbreaking, yet hopeful. A story that will stay with you for years to come." -- Sara Farizan, Lambda Award-winning author of If You Could Be Mine
"The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali unapologetically explores the complex ties between families, friends, and intersectional diversity. Khan brings talent and voice in this brilliant novel that will keep you reading until the very last page." -- Nisha Sharma, author of My So-Called Bollywood Life
"[The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali] takes LGBTQ fiction to another level and will help open readers' eyes to the realities that many face in these changing times." -- Shelf Awareness
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Like many American teenagers straddling two cultures that of their foreign-born parents and that outside their home Seattle high school senior Rukhsana has hopes that diverge from her family's. Though her conservative Bengali-Muslim parents expect her to attend the nearby University of Washington and to marry a young man, she has secretly applied to Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., and is a closeted-to-them lesbian. Her parents eventually give in on Caltech, but when they discover her kissing her girlfriend, Ariana, they furiously spirit Rukhsana away to Bangladesh under false pretenses. Khan skillfully depicts Rukhsana's mix of emotions toward her family frustration and anger, love and loyalty as well as resentment at the differing expectations her parents hold for her and for her carefree younger brother, Aamir. Relationships ring true, including the siblings' teasingly affectionate relationship and Rukhsana and Ariana's struggles navigating their romance under difficult circumstances. The complicated plot and the large cast of characters, both in Seattle and in Bangladesh, occasionally overwhelm, but Rukhsana's voice offers a steady blend of compassion and humor as she schemes with several likable allies to follow her dreams, perhaps at the cost of losing her family. Ages 14 up.)
Customer Reviews
Bookworm
Although I don’t like reading this book has pulled me in and I can’t stop reading it!
Heart-tugging and unforgettable
This story will always have a special place in my heart because I could totally relate to Rukhsana’s struggles with her family. I cried so many times while I was reading this story but I loved every word of it!