When her mother sets her up with handsome, aloof Harun, eighteen-year-old Bangladeshi American Zahra pretends to date him while she pursues her coworker, Nayim, but she quickly finds herself second-guessing her true feelings.
Set in 2017 near Atlanta, the novel centers on Mother, an Indian-American woman in her 40s with three daughters and a husband who travels internationally more than he?s at home.
Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali is looking forward to going to Caltech and getting away from her conservative Muslim parents' expectation that she will marry, especially since she is in love with her girlfriend Ariana--but when her parents catch her kissing Ariana, they whisk Rukhsana off to Bangladesh and a world of tradition and arranged marriages, and she must find the courage to fight for the right to choose her own path.
Contains eight short stories, largely centered on themes of family and friendship, including the title story, "Unaccustomed Earth," in which Ruma, a young mother, is visited by herfather in Seattle.
Exploring the secrets and complexities lying at the heart of family life and relationships, a collection of eight stories includes the title work, about a young mother in a new city whose father tends her garden while hiding a secret love affair.
