Laughing All the Way to the Mosque

Trade Paperback

The Misadventures of a Muslim Woman

Zarqa Nawaz has always straddled two cultures. She's just as likely to be agonising over which sparkly earrings will pimp out her hijab as to be flirting with the Walmart meat manager in a futile attempt to secure halal chicken the day before Eid. In Laughing All the Way to the Mosque she tells the sometimes absurd, sometimes challenging and always wickedly funny stories of being Zarqa in a western society. From explaining to the plumber why the toilet must be within sitting arm's reach of the water tap (hint: it involves a watering can and a Muslim obsession with cleanliness) to urging the electrician to place an eye-height electrical socket for her father-in-law's epilepsy-inducing light-up picture of the Kaaba, Zarqa paints a hilarious portrait of growing up in a household where, according to her father, the Quran says it's okay to eat at McDonald's - but only if you order the McFish.