Tasneem Abdur-Rashid

Her parents' divorce has Maaryah bidding bye-bye to Dubai and her life of luxury . . . and hello to dreary London, where things get . . . complicated. There are house parties, annoying-yet-hot boys and the isolating reality of being the only hijabi in a massive school. Can Maaryah stay true to herself, even when another bombshell rocks her world . . . ?Odd Girl Out has been shortlisted for multiple awards including the Warwickshire Teen Book Awards, Redbridge Book Awards, Redhill Academy Trust YA Book Award, Girls Day School Trust Awards & the Muslim Book Awards. It has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal, longlisted for the Branford Boase Award and won the Strange Incorporated Award.

Maya's life is safe, predictable, quiet . . . She spends her days at the same job she's been at for years, her evenings watching Bollywood movies with her parents and her Saturday nights eating out at the same restaurant with her childhood best friend. When Maya meets Noah on the Underground, for twenty glorious minutes her life becomes exciting. Until he jumps off the train, accidentally leaving behind a notebook containing a list of thirty things he wants to do before he turns thirty. Crushed by the abrupt ending to what could have been her happily ever after, Maya challenges herself to work through the items on his list, secretly hoping that whilst climbing out of her rut and (quite literally) climbing mountains, she may find Noah as well as herself. Instead, she meets Zakariya; an annoying suitor brought to her by her parents via a dodgy marriage CV. But how can a flawed, real life person ever compare to the man in the notebook?