Landing in Place, (Kokila, 2025)

A heartfelt and hopeful coming-of-age novel about a seventeen-year-old Egyptian American girl and her quest to help shape the world she wants to live in.

Although Anisa Mustafa’s family is Egyptian and Muslim, Anisa’s mom, Nadia, always tells her to check “White” on her application forms. Overbearing, anxious Nadia has strong ideas about everything, including that Anisa will follow her perfect older sister, Reem, right into medical school. Anisa loves to draw, but she isn’t sure if she’s meant to study art like her best friend, Tomoyo. It’s easiest to just give in, which is how Anisa ends up on the same premed track as Reem and completely miserable, surrounded by fellow Muslim students who seem to know exactly who they are and the “right way” to be a Muslim.

Failing chemistry in her first semester and desperate for escape, Anisa convinces her parents to let her visit her beloved grandfather in Egypt. Warm and loving, Giddo introduces her to the peace that can come with prayer. He also helps her get an internship with a comics reporter at a newspaper, an experience that immerses Anisa in an Egypt outside the bubble of her privileged family. Here she finds a new freedom in wearing hijab. Most importantly, her time with Giddo helps her to learn more of her parents’ stories and better understand them. After a family emergency brings Anisa back home, she begins to forge a new relationship with Nadia, who is more herself than ever, but also more open to change than Anisa thought possible. Now navigating life as a visibly Muslim young woman, Anisa must once again confront the challenge of who she is and what she wants to stand for. With a better understanding of herself and the power of her art, Anisa is finally ready to take her place in her family, her community, and the world.