A place for us

A #1 New York Times bestseller • National Book Award "5 Under 35" nominee • A New Yorker "One Book, One New York" pick

Named one of the best books of the year by: The Washington Post • NPR • People • Refinery29 • Parade • BuzzFeed

“Mirza writes with an all-encompassing compassion.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

Hailed as “a book for our times” (Christiane Amanpour), A Place for Ourselves is a deeply moving and resonant story about love, identity, and belonging.

As an Indian wedding brings a family back together, parents Rafiq and Laila must reckon with the choices their children have made. There's Hadiya: their headstrong eldest daughter, whose marriage is a marriage of love, not tradition. Huda, the middle child, is determined to follow in her sister's footsteps. And finally, their estranged son, Amar, returns to the family for the first time in three years, replacing the bride's brother. What secrets and betrayals have torn this close-knit family apart? Can Amar find his way back to those they know and love most?

"A Place for Us" takes us back to the beginnings of this family's life: from the bonds that unite them to the differences that tear them apart. Here you find all the joys and struggles of family life, from Rafiq and Laila's arrival in America from India, to the years when their children—each in their own way—move between two cultures, seeking their place in the world and their return home. "A Place for Us" is a book for our times: a stunningly tender novel about identity and belonging, and a moving portrait of what it means to be an American family today. The book announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a remarkable new literary talent.