MAD, BAD & DANGEROUS TO KNOW

In a novel spanning two cultures and two centuries, New York Times bestselling author Samira Ahmed explores the timeless struggle for equality and identity through dueling narratives--that of a Muslim-American teenager obsessed with a 19th century art world mystery, and the enigmatic figure at the mysterys heart. Its August in Paris, but 17-year-old Khayyam--American, Desi, Muslim, the only child of Chicago-based academics with a summer apartment on the Ile de la Cite --is at a crossroads. Uncertain of her relationship with Zaid, the boy back home, she cant hold on to the past. Stung by her dream colleges rejection of the essay she wrote to apply early, she doesnt see a clear future. Khayyam is alone in her belief that the mysterious raven-tressed lady in the poems of Alexandre Dumas not only inspired the paintings of Eugène Delacroix, they were based on a real person named Leila. A chance encounter with a descendant of Alexandre Dumas plunges Khayyam back into her research and the hunt for the truth. Interstitials offer a tantalizing glimpse of Leilas life as it could have been--defined by a high-wire balance of privileged status, servitude, and survival as a Muslim woman subject to European patriarchy and colonialism. As the stakes rise for both, Khayyam and Leila must ultimately wrestle with desires and expectations outside of their control to determine their own fates.
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