Published by: HarperCollins
Release date: May 9, 2017
ISBN 13: 978-0062445704

Buy: Bookshop | Amazon

Kirkus Review Best Teen Contemporary Teen Read of 2017  * Kirkus Review Best Teen Novel with a Touch of Humor  * ALA Amelia Bloomer Best Feminist Books for Young Readers * Bank Street Best Book of the Year * Best Book of the Year – Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices 2018

“Populated by complicated characters who are so well described readers will feel they might bump into them on the street, Karim’s second novel delivers on its title’s promise.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review

“Shabnam’s relationship with Jamie…is realistic and heartfelt, but the real resonance lies in her hard-won reconnection with Farah and her new consideration of her father and her mother, who emerge as compelling and dimensional characters. Ultimately, this is a warm-hearted story that may encourage readers, like Shabnam, to find possibilities in greater human connections.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, STARRED Review

“Fresh, funny, and poignant, Karim’s novel is noteworthy for its authentic depiction of a Pakistani American teen coming of age and falling in love.” – Booklist

When Shabnam Qureshi’s feisty best friend, Farah, starts wearing the headscarf, it begins to unravel their friendship. After telling a huge lie about a tragedy that happened to her family during the Partition of India in 1947, Shabnam is ready for high school to end. She has a plan: Get through the summer. Get to college. Don’t look back. Begin anew.

Everything changes when she meets Jamie, who scores her a job at his aunt’s pie shack, and meets her there every afternoon. Shabnam begins to see Jamie and herself like the rose and the nightingale of Urdu poetry, which, according to her father, is the ultimate language of desire. Jamie finds Shabnam fascinating—her curls, her culture, her awkwardness. Shabnam finds herself falling in love, but Farah finds Jamie worrying.

With Farah’s help, Shabnam uncovers the truth about Jamie, about herself, and what really happened during Partition. As she rebuilds her friendship with Farah and grows closer to her parents, Shabnam learns powerful lessons about the importance of love, in all of its forms.

Set against a backdrop of Radiohead and the evocative metaphors of Urdu poetry, THAT THING WE CALL A HEART is an honest, moving story of a young woman’s explorations of first love, the value of friendship, and what it means to be true.