I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister

A year after Djelila's brutal murder, Sohane recalls her loving, difficult relationship with her beautiful younger sister. When a gang of boys from their French housing project accuses Djelila of shaming Islam, Sohane is fearful. Djelila laughs them off--then tragedy strikes. Based loosely on a true incident, Sarn's poignant novel is a coming-of-age story about the uniquely powerful bond between sisters. Glos.

A year after Djelila's brutal murder, Sohane recalls her loving but sometimes difficult relationship with her beautiful younger sister and the guilt she carries for not protecting Djelila. Growing up Muslim in a French housing project, Sohane and Djelila have always been close, sharing all of their secrets, worries, and hopes, even as they go their separate ways at school. Once on the bus, carefree Djelila smokes cigarettes and chats animatedly with her popular friends while Sohane sits quietly, later joining a group of serious students like herself. When a gang of boys from their project begin jeering and spitting at Djelila for her tight jeans and short tops, accusing her of shaming Islam, Sohane is fearful, calling the gang "our Taliban," but Djelila laughs them off. As Djelila socializes and plays basketball, Sohane chooses to wear a headscarf, which gets her expelled because of France's law against religious attire in schools. Sohane works even harder at her correspondence coursework but is increasingly fearful for Djelila as the boys continue following her home--until the horrific day when the sound of screaming leads her to a nightmare of flames in the basement. Based loosely on a true incident, Sarn's poignant novel surely raises issues of religious freedom, but it is foremost a coming-of-age story about personal choice and the uniquely powerful bond between sisters, which holds beyond diverging paths and even death. lauren adams