With the rise in nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment, Khair's novel about an English teen who runs away to join Daesh is timely. Jamilla, raised in a devout Muslim family, takes pride in adhering to the teachings of the Koran. Her best friend, Ameena, also Muslim, isn't a strict follower of the religion, but when the boy she loves breaks her heart, Ameena turns to her faith for solace. It soon becomes her obsession, and she encourages Jamilla to join her on social networking sites that connect to a worldwide Islamic community. Drawn to the postings of a woman who runs an orphanage in Syria, where her husband is fighting for the "faith," the girls are convinced to join the cause and soon are making travel arrangements but end up trapped in a terrifying, unexpected situation. Khair describes how, especially for Muslim youth, alienation can drive teens to seek kinship. Jamilla is adroitly rendered, and readers will feel as though she's sitting by them, relating her tale. VERDICT This riveting, intimate story should be required reading in high schools, followed up with group discussion.-Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Khair, whose earlier novel The Thing About Thugs was short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize, tackles the troubling but timely development in Europe and North America: radicalizing and recruiting young people to fight for the Islamic State. Told from the perspective of Jamilla, a young British Muslim, the novel probes the motivations for why Jamilla and her childhood friend Ameena run away from northern England to Syria in order to join the jihad. Timing is impeccable in Khair's novel. The two women connect with Hejjiye, a recruiter on social media, at a vulnerable time, when neither sees a way forward in their current lives. While the basic story is straight from present-day headlines, Khair does justice to their identity struggles, presenting a balanced, even empathetic portrayal. The girls never become stereotypes. Jamilla's simple, first-person narrative is riveting, and the ending is unexpected. Many will see parallels to Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. VERDICT Recommended for all collections and especially for YA -readers.-Faye Chadwell, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Two British Muslim girls run away to Syria to join the Islamic State groupnbsp;but find something far beyond disillusionment.This superb novel is a cousin to Mohsin Hamids The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) in both theme and structure. Here again a murky, reviled aspect of Muslim experience is brilliantly revealed; here again the form of the story is a single confidence shared with a silent listener. Jamilla and her friend Ameena are childhood friends from a town in the north of England. At home they speak Urdu; elsewhere, English with the local accentA think A told yer to bugger off. Jamillas family is conservative; she is a passionate student and believer. She never goes out without her niqab, for which she is endlessly harassed, but she also feels at odds with the Islam of her parents, who reduce God to a little bookkeeping clerk. Ameenas mum and dad are divorced, materialistic, and Westernized; Ameena herself smokes cigarettes and is mad for a soccer player at school who looks like David Beckham. The girls on-again, off-again friendship takes a fateful turn when Ameena is humiliated by her crush, then meets on Facebook a strikingly beautiful woman with an adorable cat. Hejjiye is a recruiter for Daesh, the Arabic acronym for ISIS. Just pack your bags and leave, she tells them. The plan is for them to become brides of jihadis, but while the more boy-crazy Ameena, who travels with a pack of made-in-China artificial hymens, is quickly married off, Jamilla schemes to remain at the so-called orphanage run by Hejjiye. Both girls quickly get to know their new associates. The careerists win everywhere, believe me! exclaims Jamilla. Hassans fanaticism was a career to him. Killing was his corporate job. Apocalypse was how he planned to corner the market. By the way, this is Ameenas husband she is talking about. And there is no cat.Was this intense, enlightening novel really written not by a British Muslim girl but a male Indian novelist who lives in Denmark? It seems impossible. Required reading for anyone interested in trying to understand our mad, bloody world. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.