"Fourteen years old and growing up in the Middle East Lamya is an overachiever and a class
clown qualities that help her hide in plain sight when she realizes she has a crush on her
teacher--her female teacher. She's also fourteen when she reads a passage in Quran class about
Maryam known as the Virgin Mary in the Christian Bible that changes everything. Lamya learns
that Maryam was untempted by an angelically handsome man and later when told she is pregnant
insists no man has touched her. Could Maryam be... like Lamya? Spanning childhood to an elite
college in the US and early adult life in New York City each essay places Lamya's struggles
and triumphs in the context of some of the most famous stories in the Quran. She juxtaposes her
coming out with Musa liberating his people from the Pharaoh asks if Allah who is neither male
nor female might instead be nonbinary and drawing strength from the faith and hope of Nuh
building his ark begins to build a life of her own--all the while discovering that her
identity as a queer immigrant devout Muslim is in fact the answer to her quest for safety
and belonging"--
