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Part One: Roots

23 issues

October 2, 2026

Minaret, Week 10: Between Paradise and Hell

Cover of Minaret by Leila Aboulela We end where the novel leaves us: on a mountain. A sermon on the Heights describes people standing between Paradise and Hell, seeing both and assured of neither, and it is impossible not to hear the whole book in that picture — a life held in the middle while love and faith pull one body t October 2, 2026

Minaret, Week 9: The Hair That Resists the Scarf

Cover of Minaret by Leila Aboulela Arguments fail, and what is left is appetite. Najwa's yearning for safety with God outlasts every political reason Anwar offers, because no argument reaches guilt, and the hungriest wish in her is to be innocent again. October 2, 2026

The Moor's Account, Week 10: Estebanico Dies at Hawikuh

Cover of The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami We began with three clocks and a father's name, and we end with a disappearance. This week a man who has lost name, country, companions and labor hands his child a story in a language he learned under pressure, and that inheritance outlives the empire that owns his body. October 2, 2026

Minaret, Week 8: The Coat Thrown Over Her Praying

Cover of Minaret by Leila Aboulela Now the novel tightens. A religious prohibition is explained to Najwa kindly, and the care of the explanation is what wounds, because it tells her which one she is allowed to be. October 2, 2026

The Moor's Account, Week 9: The Conqueror's Table

Cover of The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami Step eight left us holding a record written by somebody else. This week the book sits us down at that somebody's table. October 2, 2026

Minaret, Week 7: Shared Hunger and the Minaret in the Window

Cover of Minaret by Leila Aboulela This step goes back into the mosque, but now it is not only shelter; it is a place where something is built. An older woman's Ramadan talk lands on Najwa like sudden light, and around her women sweat and fast and stand shoulder to shoulder, equal for the length of a prayer and ranked again October 2, 2026

The Moor's Account, Week 8: The Name That Walks Ahead

Cover of The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami Last week a cure worked and the healer stayed owned. This week the book follows the reputation instead of the man. October 2, 2026

Minaret, Week 6: An Empty Room With the Argument Still Going

Cover of Minaret by Leila Aboulela Once love has terms, it has arguments, and this is the season of them. The book keeps testing whether a person's beliefs can survive being explained by someone with more power: a man who lectures a woman about her own faith, a magazine quiz that certifies her as modern, a lover whose mocke October 2, 2026

The Moor's Account, Week 7: The Campfire and the Cure

Cover of The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami Last week's brotherhood came with arithmetic attached. This week the book offers something better and stranger: a place where telling actually works. October 2, 2026

Minaret, Week 5: A Number Left Uncalled

Cover of Minaret by Leila Aboulela Now the past writes to her. A disgraced family is kept alive by women's friendships made long before the fall; a phone number is dropped into a handbag and not called; then a letter arrives from London asking for her.