An New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice * An NPR Best Book of the Year * A Padma Lakshmi
Book Club PickFor fans of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn an
unforgettable story about female friendship and queer love in a Muslim-American
communityStunningly beautiful. -The New York Times Book ReviewAn unforgettable voice that moves
you from the start. -People MagazineRazia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard
sunflowers of Corona Queens with her best friend Saima by her side. When a family rift
drives the girls apart Razia's heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima a new girl in her
close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening
to scandalous music wearing miniskirts and cutting school to explore the city. When Razia is
accepted to Stuyvesant a prestigious high school in Manhattan the gulf between the person she
is and the daughter her parents want her to be widens. At Stuyvesant Razia meets Angela and
is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding. When their relationship is
discovered by an Aunty in the community Razia must choose between her family and her own
future. Punctuated by both joy and loss full of '80s music and beloved novels Roses in the
Mouth of a Lion is a new classic: a fiercely compassionate coming-of-age story of a girl
struggling to reconcile her heritage and faith with her desire to be true to herself.
