Hope Ablaze
United States

Hope Ablaze

by Sarah Mughal Rana

Summary

What happens when speaking the truth becomes dangerous—and silence begins to feel like a betrayal of everything you believe in?

Eighteen-year-old Nida Siddiqui is a Pakistani American Muslim whose greatest passion is poetry. Yet she keeps her writing private, afraid of exposing too much of herself to a world that often misunderstands her faith and identity. Her uncle, Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh, is a celebrated poet who has been imprisoned on terrorism charges, leaving Nida to wrestle with his legacy and the risks of speaking out.

When Nida is mistreated by law enforcement at a political rally, she channels her anger into a powerful poem. Unexpectedly, it goes viral, thrusting her into a public controversy she never wanted. As accusations mount and her family faces renewed scrutiny, Nida must confront the tension between protecting herself and using her voice to challenge injustice.

Blending prose, poetry, and elements of magical realism, Hope Ablaze explores Islamophobia, family loyalty, faith, and the courage to speak when the world would rather you remain silent. It is a moving coming-of-age story about discovering that finding your voice can be both frightening and liberating.

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Sarah Mughal Rana
Sarah Mughal Rana

Sarah Mughal Rana is a Canadian-Pakistani author known for writing about identity, faith, power, and resistance. She holds an MPhil from the University of Oxford, where her studies focused on economic policy and human rights. Alongside writing, she works in technology and co-hosts the On The Write Track podcast. Hope Ablaze, published in 2024, was her young adult debut. The novel combines poetry and prose to explore a Muslim teenager’s struggle to find her voice amid Islamophobia and political pressure. It was selected for librarian Mychal Threets’ debut book club and received a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. Rana’s writing often centres characters navigating competing expectations around identity, belonging, and justice. Her later work includes Dawn of the Firebird, the first book in a high-fantasy trilogy, reflecting her interest in stories of resistance and the difficult choices people make when confronting powerful systems.

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Published
2024
Author
Sarah Mughal Rana