Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, Bushra Rehman
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, Bushra Rehman
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Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion
A Novel

Author: Bushra Rehman

Narrator: Bushra Rehman

Unabridged: 9 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/06/2022

Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

For fans of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and My Brilliant Friend, an unforgettable story about female friendship and queer love in a Muslim-American community

"I LOVED EVERY MOMENT." —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!

"Bushra Rehman performs her novel of a queer Pakistani American girl who is coming of age in the 1980s and '90s. As Razia begins rebelling in small ways, Rehman adds a layer of emotional intimacy to Razia's conflicted feelings. "- AudioFile

"The lush and poetic descriptions of the setting and culture serve as a love letter to the Pakistani American community and to Queens, with the audiobook elevated by Rehman’s finely tuned narration."- Library Journal

Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting school to explore the city.

When Razia is accepted to Stuyvesant, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, the gulf between the person she is and the daughter her parents want her to be, widens. At Stuyvesant, Razia meets Angela and is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding. When their relationship is discovered by an Aunty in the community, Razia must choose between her family and her own future.

Punctuated by both joy and loss, full of ’80s music and beloved novels, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a new classic: a fiercely compassionate coming-of-age story of a girl struggling to reconcile her heritage and faith with her desire to be true to herself.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

About Bushra Rehman

Bushra Rehman grew up in Corona, Queens. She is co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, and author of the novel Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, the poetry collection Marianna’s Beauty Salon, and the dark comedy Corona, one of the New York Public Library’s favorite books about NYC.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jenny on December 28, 2022

I loved this book so much I picked it for the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club. Beautiful and heart-breaking. It ended too soon.......more

Goodreads review by Dona's on February 06, 2023

Thank you NetGally, Bushra Rehman, and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audio copy of this beautiful book. New York back drops ROSES, IN THE MOUTH OF A LION by Bushra Rehman, a story about young girls' friendship bearing up (or not) under the strain of expectation, family life and love for Islam, a mi......more

Goodreads review by Emily on March 08, 2023

A tender and nuanced coming of age story in 1980s Queens. The voice of narrator Razia is enchanting and humorous. She portrays a completely genuine struggle between being who we want to be, and who we are expected to be, and the wild journey of self discovery that is equal parts painful and joyous,......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on November 15, 2022

A character-driven coming-of-age story set in a Pakistani community in Queens. The characters and community are so well drawn that we understand well where Razia and her family fit within it. This is a child-of-immigrants story where the parents are all still very tied up with their home country, an......more

Goodreads review by Chloe on August 13, 2023

Vivid, immersive storytelling. Lyrical prose. Razia was such a compelling, rich character, and her coming of age story as a queer young woman in the Pakistani Muslim community in late 1980's Corona Queens took me through the gamut of feelings. I loved how Bushra Rehman represented so many complex re......more

Quotes

A Most Anticipated Book (The Millions, Autostraddle, Lit Hub)

“Stellar…Deeply immersive…The scenes brim with the pluck and tumult of young friendship while also portraying the uneasy racial balance that the first-generation children navigate in 1980s Queens…A distinctive and infectious voice takes hold of the reader from the first page.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Rehman's storytelling shares the elliptical grace of poetry. Her deeply sensitive protagonist, Razia, comes into sharp-focus like a shaken photograph, and Queens rears off the page in all its glorious vibrancy and complexity. I loved every moment I spent in Razia's company. A stunning novel from a vital writer.”
—Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! and Orange World

“Enchanting, smart, and keenly observed, Bushra Rehman’s Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion shows us the wiry exhilaration of a girl becoming a woman she didn’t know she could be.”
—Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk

“With a poet's sensibility for language, Bushra Rehman has created a tender and multi-layered story of young Muslim women navigating a complicated and racialized world. This novel will break your heart open.”
—Daisy Hernández, author of The Kissing Bug

“An unforgettable novel of almost luminous vitality, rich with the episodic texture of life, heavy with love for its characters, shining with beauty and pain. Rehman’s prose is a knife, and I would let her cut out my heart again and again.”
—Rufi Thorpe, author of The Knockout Queen

“Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a brave, beauty-filled book that takes you by the hand and into Razia’s world. This book made me nostalgic for Queens and reminded me to take care of the girl who still lives inside me. I love this lush, lovely book—it deepens our understanding of the human experience and is a fiercely beautiful and honest ode to all girls becoming women.”
—Ishle Yi Park, poet laureate of Queens and author of The Temperature of This Water and Angel & Hannah

“Endearing, irreverent, and engaging. Bushra Rehman writes through the insightfully humorous lens of a sharp second-generation, Queens-bred Desi New Yorker. In Razia, she has created a unique character that is daring, hilarious, vulnerable and fierce. You will want to keep traveling with her long after the book ends.”
—DJ Rekha

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