"It's August in Paris, but 17-year-old Khayyam-American, Desi, Muslim, the only child of Chicago-based academics with a summer apartment on the Ile de la Cite-is at a crossroads. Uncertain of her relationship with Zaid, the boy back home, she can't hold on to the past. Stung by her dream college's rejection of the essay she wrote to apply early, she doesn't see a clear future. Khayyam is alone in her belief that the mysterious "raven-tressed lady" in the poems of Alexandre Dumas not only inspired the paintings of Eugène Delacroix, they were based on a real person named Leila. A chance encounter with a descendant of Alexandre Dumas plunges Khayyam back into her research and the hunt for the truth. Interstitials offer a tantalizing glimpse of Leila's life as it could have been-defined by a high-wire balance of privileged status, servitude, and survival as a Muslim woman subject to European patriarchy and colonialism. As the stakes rise for both, Khayyam and Leila must ultimately wrestle with desires and expectations outside of their control to determine their own fates"--

Ages 14

Grades 10-12