The release date for the English version of 'An Emotion of Great Delight' by
Tahereh Mafi is Jun 2021. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
A remarkable book about love and loneliness, navigating the hyphen of dual identity, and reclaiming your right to joy—even while you're imprisoned in the amber of sorrow—is released by best-selling and National Book Award-nominated author Tahereh Mafi.
In 2003, after the United States officially launched war on Iraq for a few months, the political landscape in the country has changed. There is a great deal of tension, an increase in hate crimes, FBI agents breaking into nearby mosques, and more harassment and targeting of the Muslim community than ever before. Shadi, covered up with a hijab, looks down.
She doesn't have time to deal with bigots since she is too preoccupied with her own problems.
Though Shadi was given the name "joy," sadness haunts her. Her mother is failing, her father is dying, her brother has passed away, and her best friend has vanished from her life for no apparent reason. Of course, there's also the little issue of her heart.
It's malfunctioning.
Shadi attempts to soldier through her collapsing environment without saying anything. She eats her own suffering, withdrawing deeper and deeper within herself every day until, at last, one day, everything shifts.
She blows up.
A fascinating glimpse into the life of a lone Muslim family in the wake of 9/11 can be found in An Emotion of Great Delight. In the middle of a contemporary conflict, it tells the story of an immigrant boy who forges a hazy identity, falls in love, and finds hope.