Love from A to Z
SynopsisPlot
A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes--because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together. An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb's teacher, who won't stop reminding the class how "bad" Muslims are. But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn't bad. She's angry.
Story
About this book
Love from A to Z follows two Muslim teenagers, Zayneb and Adam, whose paths cross during a spring break trip to Doha, Qatar. Zayneb is dealing with a teacher back home who openly targets Islam in class, leaving her furious and searching for a way to channel that anger. Adam carries his own private burden, one he has not yet shared with the people closest to him. Both keep personal journals organized around two categories: marvels, the things that strike them as wonderful, and oddities, the things that unsettle or confuse them.
S.K. Ali structures the novel in alternating perspectives, letting each character catalogue what amazes or disturbs them as their connection grows. The story moves between North America and Qatar, grounding its romance in specific settings and daily details rather than abstraction. Islamophobia, family illness, and the question of how to respond to prejudice run through the narrative alongside lighter scenes of food, friendship, and attraction.
Ali was a William C. Morris Award Finalist prior to this book's publication. The novel pairs its love story with the practical texture of Muslim life, from prayer schedules to holiday preparations, presented as ordinary rather than exotic.
