Available Everywhere Books are Sold June 2023

Mary Efendi’s first novel tells the story of Maryam, a high-school girl from Baku, Azerbaijan, who is thrown into the chaos of immigrant life when her mother decides to emigrate to the United States.  When the America she finds herself in is different from what she saw in the movies, she’s suddenly alone with the realization she has lost the support network she once had in her friends and family.

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She often sits by the window reflecting on passersby and how different they are from people of her country. Then, the reality of immigrant life forces her to step out of the apartment and into a foreign world that is at once fascinating, confusing, and not always kind.

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Efendi, with nostalgia and introspection, carries the reader through the highs and lows of her protagonist’s early years of immigrant life, and treats us to a world populated with real-life characters from the streets of Chicago. Efendi skillfully paints a tender picture of home that will appeal to immigrants from many countries. She tells the story of a young woman who faces difficulties, but who eventually deals with her pain and loneliness as she undergoes a transformation that allows America to become her home.