Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion

Rehman debuts with a queer coming-of-age story that follows Razia, a Muslim Pakistani American girl growing up in the 1980s in Corona, a neighborhood in Queens, NY. Rehman narrates her own work, which presents Razia’s first-person point of view. The book highlights key moments during Razia’s adolescence, from her preteen years through high school, as she begins to recognize her growing attraction to a fellow classmate in her all-girls school. Razia struggles to balance the expectations of her traditionally religious family and her hopes to become her own person. Her steady internal dialogue runs throughout, revealing her rebellious desires, her questioning of faith, and her ineffable feelings of being different. Rehman herself grew up in a Muslim community in Corona, and her narration feels deeply personal and intimate. 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.