sari: an outfit worn by South Asian women that is made of several yards of lightweight cloth. It’s draped so that one end makes a skirt and the other is typically a shoulder covering.

shalwars: loose, flowy Pakistani pants

Surah Al-Kahf: the 18th chapter of the Quran. Al-Kahf means “The Cave.”

tasbih: prayer beads

wa-alaikum-as-salaam: Muslim reply to assalamualaikum, meaning “peace be upon you too”

Nurah’s Aloo Kabab Lunch Recipe

Ingredients:

6 medium potatoes

1 pound ground beef

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon ground red pepper

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup bread crumbs

Vegetable oil

1. Peel and boil the potatoes (aloo) until soft for approximately 25 minutes and mash separately.

2. Cook the ground beef until brown. To the beef add the salt, ground cumin, ginger, garlic, ground coriander, and red pepper.

3. Mix the mashed potatoes and browned ground beef evenly.

4. Shape the mixture into circular kabab shapes with your hands.

5. Dip kababs into the beaten egg.

6. Coat kababs with bread crumbs.

7. Shallow fry in medium-heat oil. Flip the kababs over to ensure they are golden brown on each side.* Enjoy! They are delicious served with rice or naan bread.

*Tip: Freeze the kababs first if you can for a couple of hours, as it makes frying easier and the kababs will be less likely to break apart.

Storage:

If you have any extra kababs, they can be stored in the freezer. They can be cooked quickly or jaldi se by shallow frying them in vegetable oil.

Acknowledgments

A huge thank-you to:

Agent Rena Rossner: for offering representation when I was queried out, for your vision in taking my Microsoft Word document and seeing it as a book, for pushing me to dig deeper, for offering insightful edits, for your speedy submission, and for being up at all hours during the auction. I’m so grateful for you! Thank you for your energy and passion and above all, for believing in Nurah and me. I can’t thank you enough.

Editor Alyson Day: for falling in love with my story, for yelling on the subway when I accepted the offer, and for championing Nurah in the best way. I couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic editor. Thank you for your uplifting comments throughout my story. I live for your supportive emails, your gorgeous insights, and can’t wait for more book journeys with you!

The entire Harper team: Soumbal Qureshi and Molly Fehr for giving me a dreamy cover and beautiful interior art! Shona McCarthy and the copyediting team for meticulous edits, Eva Lynch-Comer for my countless emails, Meghan Petit and Allison Brown for gorgeous production, Emma Meyer and Lauren Levite for enthusiastic marketing and publicity.

Editors Audrey Maynard and Ann Rider for support and making me feel like my stories mattered from the beginning.

All My SCBWI Critique Partners who responded when I was just a stranger emailing and who gave me constant hope throughout the long writing process, especially Melissa Miles, Amy Board, Vicki Wilson, Tresha Render, Becky Goodman, and my first family readers: Sana Dossul for always being so kind and ready to read, Huma Faruqi, and Asna Dossul.