These Impossible Things

A savagely funny first book about three best friends negotiating faith, sex, love, and the one night that changes everything.

Malak, Kees, and Jenna have always been up against the world. They have learned to live their own lives while adhering to the standards of being devout Muslim women since they were young, under the careful eyes of their parents, aunts, and uncles. It is pretending to be a sleepover with a best friend when staying over a boyfriend's apartment, and fatigue can be attributed to studying rather than having fun. They are aware that they are living in a wonderful time. It's getting harder and harder to strike the right balance between religion and rebellion as you get older and the stakes in life and love rise.

Malak is willing to break her own heart in order to achieve her dream, which is for her lover, community, and faith to coexist harmoniously. Kees's parents will never know that she is in love with Harry, a white Catholic man. She has to choose between the life she knows and loves with her family and her future happiness when he proposes. Despite being uncontrollably lonely, Jenna is the light of the party and constantly eager to experience new things. They have always had each other through it all. But when their time as college students draws to an end, a single night of shocking revelations alters everything.

Now at the brink of actual adulthood, Malak, Kees, and Jenna must find a way back to each other as their lives start to take different turns as they balance their own needs and desires with those of their families, faith, and tradition. A celebration of female friendship, youth, and all the chaos and joy that come with love, These Impossible Things is. A June 2022 Marie Claire Book Club Pick and a Highly Anticipated Book by: BookRiot, theSkimm, Fortune, Apartment Therapy, and Bustle