THAT THING WE CALL A HEART
Shabnam Qureshi is facing a summer of loneliness and boredom until she meets Jamie, who scores her a job at his aunt’s pie shack. Shabnam quickly finds herself in love, while her former best friend, Farah, who Shabnam has begun to reconnect with, finds Jamie worrying.
In her quest to figure out who she really is and what she really wants, Shabnam looks for help in an unexpected place–her family, and her father’s beloved Urdu poetry.
That Thing We Call a Heart is a funny and fresh story about the importance of love–in all its forms.
Shabnam Qureshi is facing a summer of loneliness and boredom until she meets Jamie, who scores her a job at his aunt’s pie shack. Shabnam quickly finds herself in love, while her former best friend, Farah, who Shabnam has begun to reconnect with, finds Jamie worrying.
In her quest to figure out who she really is and what she really wants, Shabnam looks for help in an unexpected place–her family, and her father’s beloved Urdu poetry.
That Thing We Call a Heart is a funny and fresh story about the importance of love–in all its forms.
- Harper Teen
- Hardcover
- May 2017
- 288 Pages
- 9780062445704
Buy the Book
$17.99
About Sheba Karim
Sheba Karim‘s second YA novel, That Thing We Call a Heart, is about first love and friendship and set to a soundtrack of Urdu poetry and Radiohead. Her first, Skunk Girl, was published in the United States, Denmark, India, Italy and Sweden. She is a graduate of New York University School of Law and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in 580 Split, Asia Literary Review, Barn Owl Review, EGO, Kartika Review, Off Assignment, Shenandoah, South Asian Review, Time Out Delhi and in several anthologies in the United States and India, including Cornered, Electric Feather and Venus Fly Trap. She is the editor of Alchemy: The Second Tranquebar Book of Erotic Short Stories, published November 2012.
Praise
“Populated by complicated characters who are so well described readers will feel they might bump into them on the street, Karim’s second novel delivers on its title’s promise.” – Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“[W]hat sets this funny, dialogue-heavy read apart is its nuanced examination of identity…Fans of Sara Zarr and Jenny Han and readers of realistic fiction will enjoy this thoughtful, witty offering.” – School Library Journal
“The contrast between Shabnam (a typical, suburban teen from a nonpracticing Muslim family) and Farah (who melds her punk and religious sensibilities) is thought-provoking and realistic. Additionally, the story touches on the Bosnian genocide, provides a lovely introduction to the beauty of Urdu poetry in translation, and includes a diversity in characters needed in YA novels. Fresh, funny, and poignant, Karim’s novel is noteworthy for its authentic depiction of a Pakistani American teen coming of age and falling in love.” – Booklist