Join the Library's longest running book club on the 2nd Thursday of every month to discuss a new book! This month, we will be discussing The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah . Pick up a copy from the Downtown Library Information Desk. Email libraryprograms@flagstaffpubliclibrary.org or call 928-213-2331 for additional information.

This event will be held in the Downtown Library Community Room and on Zoom.

Register to be reminded of this event; registration NOT required.

Synopsis:

A Palestinian American woman wrestles with faith, loss, and identity before coming face-to-face with a school shooter in this searing debut.

Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal of Nurrideen School for Girls, a Muslim school in the Chicago suburbs. One morning, a shooter―radicalized by the online alt-right―attacks the school.

As Afaf listens to his terrifying progress, we are swept back through her memories: the bigotry she faced as a child, her mother’s dreams of returning to Palestine, and the devastating disappearance of her older sister that tore her family apart. Still, there is the sweetness of the music from her father’s oud, and the hope and community Afaf finally finds in Islam.

The Beauty of Your Face is a profound and poignant exploration of one woman’s life in a nation at odds with its ideals, an emotionally rich novel that encourages us to reflect on our shared humanity. If others take the time to really see us, to look into our face, they will find something indelibly familiar, something achingly beautiful gazing back.

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