Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed
Published: 2020
Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Romance, Feminism
Audience: Grades 9-12
Content Warnings: Violence
Reviewer: Heather Kent
Book Cover Summary:
Told in alternating narratives that bridge centuries, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Samira Ahmed traces the lives of two young women fighting to write their own stories and escape the pressure of familial burdens and cultural expectations in worlds too long defined by men.
It’s August in Paris and 17-year-old Khayyam Maquet—American, French, Indian, Muslim—is at a crossroads. This holiday with her professor parents should be a dream trip for the budding art historian. But her maybe-ex-boyfriend is probably ghosting her, she might have just blown her chance at getting into her dream college, and now all she really wants is to be back 
home in Chicago figuring out her messy life instead of brooding in the City of Light.
Two hundred years before Khayyam’s summer of discontent, Leila is struggling to survive and keep her true love hidden from the Pasha who has “gifted” her with favored status in his harem. In the present day—and with the company of a descendant of Alexandre Dumas—Khayyam begins to connect allusions to an enigmatic 19th-century Muslim woman whose path may have intersected with Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and Lord Byron.
Review
"Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know" by Samira Ahmed is a culturally rich young adult novel that beautifully intertwines contemporary issues with a historical adventure. The story follows Khayyam Maquet, a seventeen-year-old American-French-Indian-Muslim girl spending her summer in Paris. Khayyam stumbles upon a historical mystery connected to Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and a mysterious 19th-century Muslim woman, Leila.
The novel explores the themes of identity, culture, and the power of women's voices, helping Khayyam discover more about herself and her relationships. Her interactions with the charming descendant of Dumas add an element of romance and adventure. I enjoyed traveling around Paris and learning about culture and the possibility of home being a feeling more than a location.
0 Comments.