Books like The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy abandons his birth name in search of a new identity. Struggling to paint, he is visited each evening by his mother's ghost.
Caring for his grandmother while avoiding the neighborhood mosque, his estranged sister, and his best friend—who secretly harbors a crush—he feels trapped inside their apartment. The only place he feels truly free is at night, when he seizes the opportunity to paint murals on buildings in the once‑thriving Manhattan district known as Little Syria, reconnecting with his heritage and his own creative voice.
The novel explores themes of grief, identity, family, and art, weaving the protagonist’s internal struggle with the cultural backdrop of a historic immigrant enclave in New York City.
First publish date: 2020
Genre: LGBTQ+ Fiction/Transgender Fiction
Authors: Zeyn Joukhadar
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