When There Was No Moon - Paperback

by Irma Fritz (Author)

FIRST PLACE WINNER PNWA

Can a girl who wants to know the world beyond her courtyard walls survive in a country where violence against women is often as near as a male family member?

When wealthy farmer Nasir offers Samina a scholarship to attend primary school, her father doesn't approve. He closes doors to her life goals while Nasir opens them. As Samina grows into young womanhood, she falls in love with Nasir, who returns her feelings. But soon Samina's family descends into chaos. Her eldest sister, engaged to a cousin in an arranged marriage, elopes with the boy she loves, and her clansmen hunt her down.

Nasir's own troubles force him into hiding until his lawyer can secure his freedom. Upon his return, he makes Samina's father an offer for his daughter's hand in marriage. While all goes well at first, the good will between the families is short-lived.

Over a decade's time, and in alternating chapters, Samina and Nasir tell their tale of love and murder in a country where violence against women is as common as the daily calls to prayer. While Samina learns early on that her country is not a safe place for women, Nasir is haunted, and eventually changed, by the lessons he learns too late.