Written by Theresa Corbin

A new book is out today, and I had the pleasure of getting an advanced copy.

Behind Picket Fences, by Hend Hegazi, is a fiction novel that follows the lives of 4 couples in one neighborhood. Honestly, I was not super jazzed about reading the book at first because most everything I pick up to read lately has been disappointing.

But after the first chapter of Behind Picket Fences flew by, I knew this book would was going to break the literary dry spell. Once I had finished the second chapter, I was living the story. Behind Picket Fences has so much raw, emotional truth in it that it brought me to tears, both happy and sad, a number of times. 

 

Every chapter leaves you wanting more. And every new chapter picks up the thread of another couple’s story. Each tale beautifully interwoven with the others as the neighbors lives profoundly affect one another.

All couples see each other’s lives as some how better than their own, even though each couple has their own struggles to wade through. 

But the best part about this novel is that it normalizes Muslim life in America in a time where we desperately need to see that.

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