A Woman Is No Man

A Woman Is No Man (2019) is Etaf Rum's first novel, about three generations of Palestinian American women. In 1990, seventeen-year-old Isra leaves her family in Palestine for an arranged marriage to Adam and a new life in Brooklyn. Isra struggles under her mother-in-law Fareeda's expectations to produce sons. Years later, in 2008, Isra's daughter Deya, raised by her grandparents, is being pushed toward marriage herself, and begins to uncover secrets about her family's past.

Recommended by 1 person

Melinda French Gates: “I love books in which women find ways to claim their power. This was an infuriating read at times—but also an inspirational one.”