Home Is Not a Country

Nima doesn't feel understood by her mother, who grew up far away in a different land, or by her suburban town, which makes her feel too much like an outsider to fit in and not enough of an outsider to feel like she belongs anywhere else. At least she has her childhood friend Haitham, with whom she can let her guard down and be herself — until she doesn't.

As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen, the name her parents didn't give her at birth: Yasmeen. That other name, that other girl, might be more real than Nima knows — and hungrier. And the life Nima has, the one she keeps wishing were someone else's, she might have to fight for with a fierceness she never knew she had.

A novel in verse about family, identity, and finding yourself in the most unexpected places.