Hanan has always been encouraged to be a good girl, a quiet girl, never making trouble. When her classmates treat her as a target for their racist bullying, and her teachers use her as their perfect Muslim poster girl, she keeps smiling and keeps her mouth shut. They don't see past her headscarf, but she knows she is so much more than that.
Then a local man is murdered, tensions run high and Muslims become targets for even worse abuse.
After a terrifying attack, Hanan decides that it's time to make her voice heard...it's time to shake the world.
The horror of this story is that it isn't fiction. I mean, it is fiction, obviously; this family, this school, this specific set of circumstances doesn't exist. But the situation - the things Muslims and especially Muslim girls face in the world today - those are achingly real.
Ayaan is obviously writing from knowledge, which adds a wonderful tone to the book and a great variety of characters. Not for this book some stock 'good' and 'bad' people; here there are all shades and colours, making for a fantastic read (if tough to get through in spots).
I cheered, I cried (several times), I gasped, I was enthralled. This book needs to be in every school and class library, studied in English classes, and given to every teenager as part of the starter kit. Fabulous.
(I would have liked the glossary at the front instead of the back, but that's a minor thing.)
You Think you Know Me publishes on the 2nd of February, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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