“I want him to know I am not lonely, I have ghosts, I have my illnesses, I have a mouthful of half-languages, & blood thick with medications, doctors line up to hear my crooked heart”

Safia Elhillo writes a young adult novel in verse about Nima, a fifteen-year-old to a single mother from the Middle East, now living in America.

Nima does not feel beautiful or graceful. She straddles two worlds, the Arabic speaking community and the white American suburban world. Nima wants to be someone else with a different name.

This novel explores two main ideas/questions; where is home, and do we embody the name we are given. Beautifully written.