A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

This is a nuanced and deeply felt novel about the burden and gifts of familial love. It is an impassioned story of love and betrayal within a Muslim Indian American family living in Northern California. Fatima Farheen Mirza beautifully depicts the simmering tension within this family dynamic. Her writing is filled with psychological insights about the struggle between respecting one’s family and forging one’s own path.

The novel opens with a wedding. Layla and Rafiq’s oldest daughter, Hadia, is marrying a man she loves rather than allowing her parents to select her husband. They have come to peace with her decision but feel trepidation about their prodigal son Amar. After three years of not speaking to his family, Amar has consented to attend Hadia’s wedding.

Layla and Rafiq poured their love, time and resources into their children. They are devout Muslims passionate that their three children should respect and follow their religious life. But their American born children have broader perspectives on what they want. The two sisters were able to work around their parents with finesse, but Amar was brash, bright, and persistently questioned his parents’ authority and the edicts of Islam.

The novel is filled with flashbacks to when the three siblings were young. Amar’s return provokes the five family members to reflect on the large and small events that caused his dramatic departure. His three-year absence has caused pain and shame within their family and within their community. Layla and Rafiq recall their interactions with Amar and realize that their religious rigidity shaped his belligerent behavior and the problems that ensued.  Though real love and good intentions existed, Layla and Rafiq’s limitations and betrayals tore the family apart.

Though the novel’s beginning was confusing due to the shifting narration, Mirza’s dissection of this family’s dynamic is impressive. With depth and understanding she seeks to answer the question: Why did these characters behave the way they did individually and within their family? She was only 27 years old when this novel was published. A Place for Us is a notable achievement, 4/5.