BETWEEN TWO MOONS, written by Aisha Abdel Gawad, artistically unfolds high school senior Amira’s Muslim life in her Brooklyn neighborhood during Ramadan. In the opening scene, Amira witnesses the unexpected arrest of a cafe owner by the police. Her twin sister, Lina, remains oblivious to it, but Amira joins her father to observe the situation unfolding below. The arrest and subsequent events set the stage for an intense and moving debut novel.
As Ramadan progresses, Amira and Lina contemplate their future selves. Lina, who is considered the more attractive twin, succumbs to drugs, sex, nightclubs, and older men, experiencing sexual assault and exploitation. Amira, on the other hand, desires anonymity and becomes embroiled in a complicated romance of her own, caught between the desire to be seen and the longing to be untraceable, a common theme of growing up among young females. The book portrays the Muslim community’s struggle to be accepted and their persistent surveillance after 9/11 through the eyes of Amira and Lina, who feel simultaneously trapped and controlled within their tight-knit Bay Ridge, Brooklyn neighborhood.
The tension of being a teenage Muslim girl escalates amidst a backdrop of violence and the desecration of the community’s mosque. It becomes especially pronounced whenever Amira’s older brother Sami is mentioned. Sami has just been released after a six-year prison sentence, and Amira describes him as a strange roommate, a foreign-exchange student, and an intruder to the family’s home. Amira and Sami both yearn for a connection, but their secret-keeping and intimacy have devastating consequences.
Despite Sami’s disturbing demeanor, the family’s apartment serves as a refuge for the sisters where forgiveness and love flourish. Their mother describes a previous sexual relationship she had before marrying their father, and their father even names his halal butcher shop after a controversial Arab poet. The novel is filled with vivid allusions to gods, queens, and prophets, imbuing the characters with a sense of saintliness and elevating them where society has reduced them to one-dimensional beings. The novel concludes with Amira discovering how truly human she can be, a powerful and poignant reminder of each character’s humanity.
Nina LaCour is an award-winning author of literature for children, teenagers, and adults. “Yerba Buena” is her latest novel.
BETWEEN TWO MOONS | Aisha Abdel Gawad | 321 pp. | Doubleday | $28
