Tahereh Mafi’s historical YA romance combines fierce anger with a steamy, intense relationship and is based on her experiences of being a Muslim teenager wearing hijab in post 9/11 America.
Ocean seems to be genuinely interested in her and while he asks the same stupid questions that other people have asked, he also seems to learn from his mistakes and Shirin is terrified to realise that she wants to get to know him too … As a result, she tries to stay under the radar, listening to her music through ear buds hidden beneath her head scarf, practicing break dancing with her brother and his friends while refusing to engage with her peers and just waiting out the next two and a half years until she can leave.Īnd then Shirin meets Ocean James – a white boy with whom she is paired in her biology class. Her parents emigrated the America for a better life and work hard, constantly moving around as they get better jobs and move to nicer neighbourhoods in different cities, which means that Navid and Shirin are constantly changing schools. Navid finds this easy – tall, athletic and good looking, he always makes friends and quickly integrates into school life.įor Shirin, however, things are different because she wears hijab – a head scarf – and in post 9/11 America, which has already invaded Afghanistan and stands ready to invade Iraq, anything that marks you out as a practicing Muslim – especially a female Muslim – is to invite abuse (at worst) and hurtful microaggressions (at best). 16-year-old Shirin has just started at a new high school with her older brother Navid. I earn commission on any purchases made through these links. You can order A VERY LARGE EXPANSE OF SEA by Tahereh Mafi from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or UK. He’s not like everyone else – but Shirin has had her guard up against the world for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down … He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know her – and it terrifies her. She hides away, drowning her frustrations in music, and spending her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. It’s a difficult time, but especially so for a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who wears hijab. It’s the year after 9/11, and Shirin has just started at yet another new high school. When you’re hiding from a world that hates you, who would make you risk everything to be seen again?
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