Pressured into following her sister's premed footsteps, Anisa struggles with her parents' expectations, college life, and finding her own identity, until she visits her grandfather in Egypt and discovers her artistic voice.
A poignant coming-of-age graphic novel about an Egyptian American girl grappling with college, her family, and the political realities of her wider world.
Anisa is following in her sister Reem’s footsteps: She’s a freshman at her sister’s alma mater, she’s on the same premed track, and she’s inherited Reem's old hotpot, mini-fridge, and textbooks. Even though Anisa would prefer to study art, her parents discount that as a valid career choice. The path laid out before her starts to crumble as Anisa feels she doesn’t belong—either in her organic chemistry class or among the other Muslim students on campus.
When Anisa fails her first semester, she begs her parents to let her take time off to visit Cairo and stay with her beloved grandfather. Finally free to have her own experiences, Anisa begins a journey of self-discovery and, as she bumps up against familial, societal, and religious expectations, she starts to develop her own artistic voice. When Anisa returns to the United States, many of these expectations shift, but she learns to draw on the love of friends and family—including those she’s often at odds with—in order to stay true to herself.
