by Laura Moriarty - undifferentiated
First published 2019
Sarah-Mary Williams lives in a version of America where Muslim citizens face registration and detention camps. The fifteen-year-old from Hannibal, Missouri accepts what she sees on the news. She believes the government's safety measures make sense. Sarah-Mary doesn't question the system because she has never met a Muslim person. Her certainty crumbles when she encounters Sadaf, a Muslim woman fleeing toward the Canadian border. Sarah-Mary's first instinct tells her to report Sadaf to authorities. Instead, Sadaf forces the teenager to examine her assumptions about justice and morality. Sarah-Mary chooses to help the fugitive reach freedom. The unlikely pair hitchhike across a country where kindness and cruelty exist side by side. Every mile brings new risks for anyone the government considers dangerous. Their journey tests both women as they navigate an America torn between fear and compassion.
Genres: american-fiction, contemporary, social-issues, political-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unlikely-allies
Setting: Hannibal, Missouri, Canada
Period: 21st-century
416 pages · Paperback · HarperCollins
Content warnings: racism