Once a Stranger

Mum was sick. Mum was dying. Laila wanted her to come home. She wasn't sure which of the two truths was more frightening. Ayat hasn't seen or spoken to her sister, Laila, and mother, Khadija, for six years. She has been estranged from her family since she baulked against the arranged marriage of her sister and settled into a relationship deemed haram by Indian Muslim tradition.Living in Melbourne, with Harry, Ayat's a different person now, living a different life. She is not the woman her mother and sister once knew - so how can she go home? But how can she not? Once a Stranger weaves through the past and present to show the bonds and disconnects between sisters, and between a mother and daughter, as the three women grapple with the idea of where they feel most at home.

“At once heartwarming and an urgent call to arms, No Country Woman is intelligent, thought-provoking and fresh, pleading for empathy in a world often lacking it. - Readings No Country Woman reads as though a friend is sharing some of the most important and intimate things about her life. Thoughtful, well-researched, straightforward and often funny - Mascara Literary Reviewrazor-sharp debut ... incisive and deeply personal - Books+Publishing”

Sonia Nair: Following on from her debut memoir No Country Woman, Zoya Patels novel Once a Stranger tackles the same themes of cultural bereavement, being caught between two different worlds and the experience of being a settler-minority in Australia. The book catapults between before and now, primarily oscillating between the three Ishmael womenAyat, her mother Khadija and her sister Lailaas they grapple with the repercussions of familial estrangement and unmet cultural obligations. Having not spoken to Khadija and Laila for six years after being effectively excommunicated from the family for refusing to marry a Muslim boy, Ayat receives a fateful email with news of Khadijas motor neurone disease diagnosis. With its Indian-Muslim protagonist who moved to Australia at a young age and grew up in a regional town, Patels novel treads similar territory to her memoir. As such, Once a Stranger is realistic and rich with detail: the creeping odour of either mould or something more malignant at Ayats Islamic Sunday school; the feeling of fabric pooling around her again as Ayat wears her salwar pants. Where Patel especially excels is in her seamless inhabiting of two opposing world views; neither side is painted as a villain, no reductive moral judgements are made. Once a Stranger will appeal to readers of Amal Awad, Sarah Malik and Sara El Sayed. Sonia Nair is a Melbourne-based writer and critic. Books+Publishing is Australias number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Zoya Patel is the author of No Country Woman , a memoir of race, religion and feminism. She is co-host of the Guardian's Book It In podcast, and the Margin Notes podcast alongside Yen Eriksen. Zoya is a columnist for the RiotACT, and regular books critic and writer for The Guardian , Canberra Times , SBS Voices, Refinery29 and more. Zoya has won numerous awards for her writing and editing, and she was a 2020 judge for the Stella Prize and Chair of the 2021 Stella Prize Judging Panel.

Their mother was sick. Their mother was dying. Laila wanted her to come home. She wasn't sure which of the two truths was more frightening. Ayat hasn't seen or spoken to her sister, Laila, and mother, Khadija, for six years. She has been estranged from her family since she baulked against the arranged marriage of her sister and settled into a relationship deemed haram by Indian Muslim tradition.Living in Melbourne, with Harry, Ayat's a different person now, living a different life. She is not the woman her mother and sister once knew - so how can she go home? But how can she not? Once a Stranger weaves through the past and present to show the bonds and disconnects between sisters, and between a mother and daughter, as the three women grapple with the idea of where they feel most at home.

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