Unbecoming
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Two Muslim teens in Texas fight for access to abortion while one harbors a painful secret in this near-future speculative novel “with sparkling humor and warmth” (Booklist, starred review) that’s perfect for fans of Unpregnant.
In a not-too-distant America, abortions are prosecuted and the right to choose is no longer an option. But best friends Laylah and Noor want to change the world. After graduating high school, they’ll become an OBGYN and a journalist, but in the meantime, they’re working on an illegal guide to abortion in Texas.
In response to the unfair laws, underground networks of clinics have sprung up, but the good fight has gotten even more precarious as it becomes harder to secure safe medication and supplies. Both Laylah and Noor are passionate about getting their guide completed so it can help those in need, but Laylah treats their project with an urgency Noor doesn’t understand—that may have something to do with the strange goings-on between their mosque and a local politician.
Fighting for what they believe in may involve even more obstacles than they bargained for, but the two best friends will continue as they always have: together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two Muslim teens in Texas are forced to navigate bodily autonomy following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in this near-future novel by Yasmin (What the Fact?). Seventeen-year-old Indian American Laylah Khan, an aspiring OB-GYN, and her Palestinian American best friend Noor Awad, who dreams of being a journalist, are secretly working together to create the Texas Teen's Guide to Safe Abortion, an "extreeeeemely illegal" document they know is "going to SAVE LIVES." Despite their hard work, when Laylah learns that she's pregnant, she finds it almost impossible to get an abortion: "No one in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nebraska. Not even in California and Oregon" has the pills she needs. Journalist and medical doctor Yasmin doesn't shy away from the grim details of the girls' reality. Via alternating POV chapters, the creator uses Laylah's pregnancy and the teens' differing relationships with their cultural identities to explore the intersecting effects of abortion policies, Islamic beliefs, and American imperialism on both. Excerpts from the Texas Teen's Guide (a complete version will be available online following the book's publication) and interstitials depicting Laylah's humorous, Bollywood-esque fantasies add comedy to this relevant look at the ingenuity, tenacity, and hope of two teens fighting for their right to choose. Ages 14–up.
