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Bright Red Fruit
An unflinching, honest novel in verse about a teenager's journey into the slam poetry scene and the first love that could threaten all her dreams. From the award-winning poet and author of HOME IS NOT A COUNTRY.
Bad girl. No matter how hard Samira tries, she can’t shake her reputation. She’s never gotten the benefit of the doubt—not from her mother or the aunties who watch her like a hawk.
Samira is determined to have a perfect summer filled with fun parties, exploring DC, and growing as a poet—until a scandalous rumor has her grounded and unable to leave her house. When Samira turns to a poetry forum for solace, she catches the eye of an older, charismatic poet named Horus. For the first time, Samira feels wanted. But soon she’s keeping a bigger secret than ever before—one that that could prove her reputation and jeopardize her place in her community.
In this gripping coming-of-age novel from the critically acclaimed author Safia Elhillo, a young woman searches to find the balance between honoring her family, her artistry, and her authentic self.
Bad girl. No matter how hard Samira tries, she can’t shake her reputation. She’s never gotten the benefit of the doubt—not from her mother or the aunties who watch her like a hawk.
Samira is determined to have a perfect summer filled with fun parties, exploring DC, and growing as a poet—until a scandalous rumor has her grounded and unable to leave her house. When Samira turns to a poetry forum for solace, she catches the eye of an older, charismatic poet named Horus. For the first time, Samira feels wanted. But soon she’s keeping a bigger secret than ever before—one that that could prove her reputation and jeopardize her place in her community.
In this gripping coming-of-age novel from the critically acclaimed author Safia Elhillo, a young woman searches to find the balance between honoring her family, her artistry, and her authentic self.
5 pages, Audiobook
First published February 6, 2024
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February 14, 2025
‘Poetry gives a voice to the voiceless,’ Turkish poet Gonca Özmen once said of poetry’s power, ‘it makes the invisible visible.’ Harnessing the gift of words and poetry is especially empowering for those who feel overlooked, cast out, misunderstood or simply desiring to be heard. Such is the desire of Sudanese-American teenager Samira in Safia Elhillo’s powerful novel in verse, Bright Red Fruit, a YA coming-of-age tale where poetry becomes an outlet for Samira to examine her identity and interpersonal relationships. Stifled by a “bad girl” reputation with her aunts back home, Samira heads to New York City for a fresh start in poetry workshops only to find the path littered with manipulative men and never quite free from her mother’s grip. A moving and poetically elegant novel that integrates the myth of Persephone as thematic texture to Samira’s own story, Bright Red Fruit is as empowering as it is inspiring.
‘i am going to show him i'm a serious artist
just like him, that i'm grown, just like him
not a kid, but a poet, a woman.’
Having rather loved Safia Elhillo’s poetry—her collection Girls That Never Die is simply outstanding—I was excited to check out her YA novel in verse. Addressing many of the themes that appears in her adult work, yet gorgeously reconfigured into a narrative for a YA audience with relatable characters struggling with one another and their own destructive impulses, Bright Red Fruit tackles rather heady and heavy topics with grace. I really enjoyed the way the novel is in poetic form, befitting it’s narrative, with the use of emails and text exchanges threaded in quite effectively. Samira’s own poetry appears and Elhillo does an excellent job of crafting them in a way to show her improve and edit her own ideas that felt appropriate for a novel about poetry workshops.
‘In New York I think I can finally be free.’
Samira is a character who admits ‘ever since i was small i’ve wanted to be loved,’ but often finds the love of family to be cloying and seeks affirmation in unhealthy spaces—such as the attention of an older man who’s poetry she admires. Yet she is determined to be her own person and leaves for NYC knowing her reputation back home is a false impression of her where those who know her are quick to assume the worst.
Her mother will not allow her to continue poetry workshops if she has any romantic entanglements, yet she has caught the eye of Horus and is deeply infatuated with his gaze meeting her in desire. It is a well done look at how Samira, in her wish to be desirable, acts older than she is and is willfully ignorant to the red flags displayed by Horus who is manipulating her vulnerabilities. ‘It’s intoxicating,’ she thinks, ‘to be cared about like this / to have someone want so badly to know me.’ The reader, however, can detect a clear sense of grooming and a Elhillo does well by giving a narrative arc around Samira being able to recognize it herself and find a sense of identity and strength not dependent upon the desires of a romantic partner.
‘In the tale of Persephone
which should be read
as an argument between the mother and the lover—
the daughter is just meat.’
—Louise Glück, from Persephone the Wanderer
The tale of Persephone is integral to the narrative yet, as Elhillo points out in an interview ‘rarely had I read a version of that myth that centered on the agency of the daughter, where it is like the battle of wills between the mother and the kidnapper.’ Like the above Glück poem, which serves as an epigraph to the story, we see how Samira feels like a mere piece of meat caught between the wills of her mother and Horus. Glück’s poetry was a major influence of Elhillo as a poet. In an interview with Service 95, Elhillo recommends the collection Averno
I enjoy the way Elhillo shapes this novel not necessarily as a retelling but with enough touchstones to the myth to make it relevant while also rectifying the tale by centering the Persephone-like character and giving her agency and a voice.
‘the girl, throughout history
is still silent
a blank space for us all to color in
with whatever we already believe’
Safia Elhillo’s Bright Red Fruit is a lovely novel of poetry and identity. Exploring cultural and familial expectations, the struggles of finding a voice, navigating toxic relationships and surviving the teenage years, Elhillo writes with beauty and empathy for a rather engaging novel.
4.5/5
‘i am going to show him i'm a serious artist
just like him, that i'm grown, just like him
not a kid, but a poet, a woman.’
Having rather loved Safia Elhillo’s poetry—her collection Girls That Never Die is simply outstanding—I was excited to check out her YA novel in verse. Addressing many of the themes that appears in her adult work, yet gorgeously reconfigured into a narrative for a YA audience with relatable characters struggling with one another and their own destructive impulses, Bright Red Fruit tackles rather heady and heavy topics with grace. I really enjoyed the way the novel is in poetic form, befitting it’s narrative, with the use of emails and text exchanges threaded in quite effectively. Samira’s own poetry appears and Elhillo does an excellent job of crafting them in a way to show her improve and edit her own ideas that felt appropriate for a novel about poetry workshops.
‘In New York I think I can finally be free.’
Samira is a character who admits ‘ever since i was small i’ve wanted to be loved,’ but often finds the love of family to be cloying and seeks affirmation in unhealthy spaces—such as the attention of an older man who’s poetry she admires. Yet she is determined to be her own person and leaves for NYC knowing her reputation back home is a false impression of her where those who know her are quick to assume the worst.
‘here's the story: in sixteen years my lips
have never been kissed, but my name spends years
kissed in every gossiping mouth, kissed
with disapproving teeth, kissed by the threat of
disgrace, of exile, my name kissed
by every whisper, by every shaken head
while i sit inside it, untouched & full
of a wanting i cannot name, of something doused
in gasoline & ready to catch’
Her mother will not allow her to continue poetry workshops if she has any romantic entanglements, yet she has caught the eye of Horus and is deeply infatuated with his gaze meeting her in desire. It is a well done look at how Samira, in her wish to be desirable, acts older than she is and is willfully ignorant to the red flags displayed by Horus who is manipulating her vulnerabilities. ‘It’s intoxicating,’ she thinks, ‘to be cared about like this / to have someone want so badly to know me.’ The reader, however, can detect a clear sense of grooming and a Elhillo does well by giving a narrative arc around Samira being able to recognize it herself and find a sense of identity and strength not dependent upon the desires of a romantic partner.
‘In the tale of Persephone
which should be read
as an argument between the mother and the lover—
the daughter is just meat.’
—Louise Glück, from Persephone the Wanderer
The tale of Persephone is integral to the narrative yet, as Elhillo points out in an interview ‘rarely had I read a version of that myth that centered on the agency of the daughter, where it is like the battle of wills between the mother and the kidnapper.’ Like the above Glück poem, which serves as an epigraph to the story, we see how Samira feels like a mere piece of meat caught between the wills of her mother and Horus. Glück’s poetry was a major influence of Elhillo as a poet. In an interview with Service 95, Elhillo recommends the collection Averno
‘Louise was one of my most important teachers and this is my favourite of her books. Blunt and plainspoken and austere and still so vivid, so pretty. Such surprising musicality. My novel Bright Red Fruit owes a lot to the Persephone poems in this book.’
I enjoy the way Elhillo shapes this novel not necessarily as a retelling but with enough touchstones to the myth to make it relevant while also rectifying the tale by centering the Persephone-like character and giving her agency and a voice.
‘the girl, throughout history
is still silent
a blank space for us all to color in
with whatever we already believe’
Safia Elhillo’s Bright Red Fruit is a lovely novel of poetry and identity. Exploring cultural and familial expectations, the struggles of finding a voice, navigating toxic relationships and surviving the teenage years, Elhillo writes with beauty and empathy for a rather engaging novel.
4.5/5
August 17, 2024
i’m a sucker for books about reconciling with our immigrant mothers and though that wasn’t the forefront of this book, it was a big part of it. i loved how interpretations of Persephone’s myth were woven into the character arc of Samira and these poems were so well written!
November 22, 2023
“but ever since i was small i’ve wanted to be loved”
Wow. This blew me away. Samira’s voice is so raw and real. I felt every emotion.
I know novels told in verse aren’t for everyone, but for me, the sparseness of the words force the writer to hone in on feelings, to use the tools of poetry to pack a punch. It resonates.
Samira is a Sudanese-American living in DC, trying to navigate being 16 in a country so different from her culture, with a mom who doesn’t seem to understand what being a teenage girl in the US means. Her mom tries to hold her close, sometimes too tightly, to keep her safe from the unknown. Samira relies on writing poetry and her two best friends until one night while posting on a poetry website, an older man, Horus (25), reaches out to her, impressed by her poems and making her feel seen.
“…it’s intoxicating, to be cared about like this
to have someone want so badly to know me”
This attention is what Samira has been craving, wanting, wishing for. To be seen and understood. And soon this secret relationship grows and festers, Samira desperately trying to be the adult she isn’t and Horus playing on her insecurities and needs. There were times where I wanted to shake Samira and say “girl, here’s what’s really happening.” But so many other times I saw why she did the things she did and it was her self-discovery and coming of age that made this so beautiful.
I received an advanced copy through Netgalley in return for an honest review.
Wow. This blew me away. Samira’s voice is so raw and real. I felt every emotion.
I know novels told in verse aren’t for everyone, but for me, the sparseness of the words force the writer to hone in on feelings, to use the tools of poetry to pack a punch. It resonates.
Samira is a Sudanese-American living in DC, trying to navigate being 16 in a country so different from her culture, with a mom who doesn’t seem to understand what being a teenage girl in the US means. Her mom tries to hold her close, sometimes too tightly, to keep her safe from the unknown. Samira relies on writing poetry and her two best friends until one night while posting on a poetry website, an older man, Horus (25), reaches out to her, impressed by her poems and making her feel seen.
“…it’s intoxicating, to be cared about like this
to have someone want so badly to know me”
This attention is what Samira has been craving, wanting, wishing for. To be seen and understood. And soon this secret relationship grows and festers, Samira desperately trying to be the adult she isn’t and Horus playing on her insecurities and needs. There were times where I wanted to shake Samira and say “girl, here’s what’s really happening.” But so many other times I saw why she did the things she did and it was her self-discovery and coming of age that made this so beautiful.
I received an advanced copy through Netgalley in return for an honest review.
June 9, 2025
for fans of The Poet X ♡
January 1, 2024
Bright Red Fruit is a beautiful, poignant coming of age novel written in verse that explores cultural identity, freedom of expression, and the exploitation of minors by predatory adults.
I absolutely loved Samira’s character and saw so much of my teenage self in her; including how easy it is to be manipulated by older men thinking that it is love.
Elhillo is truly a gifted author and poet, and I will continue to read whatever she writes. Also, I highly recommend the audiobook for this as it is read by Elhillo!
Thank you to PRH Audio for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved Samira’s character and saw so much of my teenage self in her; including how easy it is to be manipulated by older men thinking that it is love.
Elhillo is truly a gifted author and poet, and I will continue to read whatever she writes. Also, I highly recommend the audiobook for this as it is read by Elhillo!
Thank you to PRH Audio for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
October 8, 2024
Poet X: Remix? Felt like it.
July 20, 2024
4.5 Stars for Bright Red Fruit (audiobook) by Safia Elhillo read by the author.
This book feels like it must be somewhat autobiographical. It’s a wonderful story of a young woman dealing with her family and experiencing love for the first time. She also gets to experience the world of poetry, she falls for a poet and gets to participate in her first poetry slam.
This book feels like it must be somewhat autobiographical. It’s a wonderful story of a young woman dealing with her family and experiencing love for the first time. She also gets to experience the world of poetry, she falls for a poet and gets to participate in her first poetry slam.
January 6, 2026
Safia Elhillo is one of my favorite poets. The January Children and Girls That Never Die are two stellar poetry collections that I'd highly recommend. In recent years, she also started delving into the YA genre. As of right now, she has written two novels in verse for a younger audience: Home Is Not A Country and Bright Red Fruit.
I've read Home Is Not A Country twice. Both times I wasn't really wowed by it. Elhillo's poetry is beautiful, but the storytelling was quite messy and the whole novel didn't feel authentic. Bright Red Fruit is a big leap from Elhillo's YA debut and works much better both as a story and as a compelling work of poetry.
Bright Red Fruit is an intriguing, honest novel about a teenage girl's journey into the slam poetry scene and her relationship to an older man that takes advantage of her. Samira has the reputation of being a "bad girl" in her community. No matter how hard she tries, she can't shake her reputation. She's never gotten the benefit of the doubt—not from her mother or the aunties who watch her like a hawk: "but the religion we really practice is the religion / of reputation fear of a deity replaced by fear / of each other the whispers the rumors / the disgrace the brittleness of a family's good name / of a family's honor the brittleness of the girls / who hold it in our clumsy hands".
Despite being grounded in two wonderful friendships to her best girlfriends ("Tamadur / i tell her about the poetry workshop, & she squeals / with excitement, already rattling off the names / of famous sudanese writers & calling me their child" <33 girls supporting girls, we love to see it!), Samira turns to an online poetry forum for solace. There, she catches the eye of an older, charismatic poet named Horus. For the first time, Samira feels wanted. She doesn't recognize the manipulative nature of Horus and the fact that he is not only taking advantage of her talent but also abusing his power as an adult.
This likeness is pretty basic and the analogies didn't work all the time, but especially the mother-daughter-relationship is incredibly well done in Bright Red Fruit. At one point, Samira reflects: "it used to be enough, to be her girl / her only daughter, only other person / in this house, until it wasn't. until / i awoke to new hungers, the whole world / in its colors tempting me like fruit / like the seven seeds of pomegranate / that ruined persephone."
Elhillo does a fantastic job at both making us understand Samira and where she's coming from as well as her mother. The latter being incredibly interesting and useful for younger audiences, who tend to sympathise with Samira but have problems relating to the older generation. The fears of Samira's mother aren't unfounded. It is dangerous to chat with strangers online, to meet up with them in the park, to invite them to your house when no one's home. We see what happens to Samira, we see how Horus uses her, and how he almost manages to violate her.
Samira's mother admits to her: "with every year that passes i feel you slipping / through my fingers, & you're all i have" – which is so incredibly vulnerable, because it not only shows her love and fear for her daughter, but also the circumstance that she gave up everything for her daughter, fleeing from Sudan to the US, so that her daughter could have a better life. "you're all i have" is an incredibly vulnerable admission.
I love that the two reconcile at the end and that Samira finally comes clean and tells her everything that went down with Horus as well as the bullying the received from the community due to her bad reputation. Her mother straight up tells her: "i will always come get you. / i will always choose you first", and that she's incredibly sorry that Samira didn't feel safe enough to open up to her. There are so many instances in this novel in which Horus threatens Samira ("I will tell your mother that you invited me into your home, and she won't like that at all, won't she?") that feel really dangerous to a teenager but as an adult you know for a fact that Horus would never follow through because as an adult he would be 100% incriminating himself, under no circumstances will he admit to another adult that he has a "relationship" with a minor. But as a minor, Samira doesn't realise this. And there are so many instances where you just want her to tell her mother but it takes her so long because of her mother's harsh regime.
At the end, her mother tells her that she'll start teaching Arabic at the Sunday school Samira was bullied out of – which is great because it gives her mother a purpose outside of her daughter. And she also tells her: "but i wanted you to know that if you did want to go, / if you do, you will have me there with you, / & anyone who wants to say anything / will have to say it to my face" – which is just wonderful and shows how far the two have come!
My favorite character in the entire novel, though, is Farah – "farah / our word of warning / of endless cautioning / the line our mothers draw / in the sand / & dare us to cross". She's the girl who was exiled for her bad reputation, the one who got away. And she's the one who, now, teaches the poetry course that Samira takes part in. It's wonderful to see how much she cares for her students and that she stands up for them. She fights so much for Samira, seeks out her mother to put in a good word for her etc. etc. I loved her character so, so much, and I love that someone like her was included in this novel!
Overall, Bright Red Fruit is a wonderful novel about consent and the power of opening up to your friends and loved ones. Elhillo has grown so much as a YA writer and even though I found the plot predictable, I'd still shove this book into any teenager's hands. It's easily read in one sitting and gripping enough to hold your attention. I haven't read anything in December and then absolutely flew through this book one Sunday morning. Highly recommend, especially if you're a fan of Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X. The parallel between these two books is uncanny, and both are worth the read!
I've read Home Is Not A Country twice. Both times I wasn't really wowed by it. Elhillo's poetry is beautiful, but the storytelling was quite messy and the whole novel didn't feel authentic. Bright Red Fruit is a big leap from Elhillo's YA debut and works much better both as a story and as a compelling work of poetry.
Bright Red Fruit is an intriguing, honest novel about a teenage girl's journey into the slam poetry scene and her relationship to an older man that takes advantage of her. Samira has the reputation of being a "bad girl" in her community. No matter how hard she tries, she can't shake her reputation. She's never gotten the benefit of the doubt—not from her mother or the aunties who watch her like a hawk: "but the religion we really practice is the religion / of reputation fear of a deity replaced by fear / of each other the whispers the rumors / the disgrace the brittleness of a family's good name / of a family's honor the brittleness of the girls / who hold it in our clumsy hands".
Despite being grounded in two wonderful friendships to her best girlfriends ("Tamadur / i tell her about the poetry workshop, & she squeals / with excitement, already rattling off the names / of famous sudanese writers & calling me their child" <33 girls supporting girls, we love to see it!), Samira turns to an online poetry forum for solace. There, she catches the eye of an older, charismatic poet named Horus. For the first time, Samira feels wanted. She doesn't recognize the manipulative nature of Horus and the fact that he is not only taking advantage of her talent but also abusing his power as an adult.
call a myth what it is:Bright Red Fruit borrows its epigraph from Louise Glück's "Persephone the Wanderer" (published in Averno, 2006): "in the tale of Persephone / which should be read / as an argument between the mother and the lover— / the daughter is just meat." The myth of Persephone plays a significant role in the novel's conception, with Samira being likened to Persephone, her relationship to her mother mirroring that of Persephone and Demeter, and Horus being a stand-in for Hades.
the surviving whispers of history
This likeness is pretty basic and the analogies didn't work all the time, but especially the mother-daughter-relationship is incredibly well done in Bright Red Fruit. At one point, Samira reflects: "it used to be enough, to be her girl / her only daughter, only other person / in this house, until it wasn't. until / i awoke to new hungers, the whole world / in its colors tempting me like fruit / like the seven seeds of pomegranate / that ruined persephone."
Elhillo does a fantastic job at both making us understand Samira and where she's coming from as well as her mother. The latter being incredibly interesting and useful for younger audiences, who tend to sympathise with Samira but have problems relating to the older generation. The fears of Samira's mother aren't unfounded. It is dangerous to chat with strangers online, to meet up with them in the park, to invite them to your house when no one's home. We see what happens to Samira, we see how Horus uses her, and how he almost manages to violate her.
Samira's mother admits to her: "with every year that passes i feel you slipping / through my fingers, & you're all i have" – which is so incredibly vulnerable, because it not only shows her love and fear for her daughter, but also the circumstance that she gave up everything for her daughter, fleeing from Sudan to the US, so that her daughter could have a better life. "you're all i have" is an incredibly vulnerable admission.
I love that the two reconcile at the end and that Samira finally comes clean and tells her everything that went down with Horus as well as the bullying the received from the community due to her bad reputation. Her mother straight up tells her: "i will always come get you. / i will always choose you first", and that she's incredibly sorry that Samira didn't feel safe enough to open up to her. There are so many instances in this novel in which Horus threatens Samira ("I will tell your mother that you invited me into your home, and she won't like that at all, won't she?") that feel really dangerous to a teenager but as an adult you know for a fact that Horus would never follow through because as an adult he would be 100% incriminating himself, under no circumstances will he admit to another adult that he has a "relationship" with a minor. But as a minor, Samira doesn't realise this. And there are so many instances where you just want her to tell her mother but it takes her so long because of her mother's harsh regime.
At the end, her mother tells her that she'll start teaching Arabic at the Sunday school Samira was bullied out of – which is great because it gives her mother a purpose outside of her daughter. And she also tells her: "but i wanted you to know that if you did want to go, / if you do, you will have me there with you, / & anyone who wants to say anything / will have to say it to my face" – which is just wonderful and shows how far the two have come!
My favorite character in the entire novel, though, is Farah – "farah / our word of warning / of endless cautioning / the line our mothers draw / in the sand / & dare us to cross". She's the girl who was exiled for her bad reputation, the one who got away. And she's the one who, now, teaches the poetry course that Samira takes part in. It's wonderful to see how much she cares for her students and that she stands up for them. She fights so much for Samira, seeks out her mother to put in a good word for her etc. etc. I loved her character so, so much, and I love that someone like her was included in this novel!
Overall, Bright Red Fruit is a wonderful novel about consent and the power of opening up to your friends and loved ones. Elhillo has grown so much as a YA writer and even though I found the plot predictable, I'd still shove this book into any teenager's hands. It's easily read in one sitting and gripping enough to hold your attention. I haven't read anything in December and then absolutely flew through this book one Sunday morning. Highly recommend, especially if you're a fan of Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X. The parallel between these two books is uncanny, and both are worth the read!
October 3, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 ( BROKE MY SCALE ) ***LIGHT SPOILERS***
This one has been on my mind daily since I finished it. Honestly, I wish I could read it again for the first time and it’s only been a few days since I closed it.
This is a Persephone and Hades retelling/inspired story in a YA coming-of-age version, layered and symbolic.
Things I loved:
-This was my first novel in verse and I fell in love with the style. As someone in the poetry and writing world, this hit my sweet spot. Poetry books can be difficult for me because I’m picky, but this was perfection.
-It’s an exploration of how trauma and fear are passed down from mothers to daughters, and how those fears end up imprisoning young girls.
-The book captured the shame young girls get from the “aunties”—making everything about men and centering little girls’ lives around them, when really all they want is to just be kids and have friends, not be sexualized or scrutinized.
-The depiction of a mother who doesn’t fully see her child; while trying to protect her, she suffocates her is a dynamic we see over & over again—it's heartbreaking.
-The honesty of how a girl, once rumors are spread about her, no longer feels safe even at home. Constant surveillance. Constant assumptions. Her very existence tied to boys and men in ways she never asked for. It was heartbreaking and too real.
-From the mother’s perspective, there’s even resentment and fear of boys because of her father leaving—another generational layer.
- I loved the transitions, like from summer to her friend Tamadur, where the setting folds into the character introductions seamlessly.
-The symbolism of the pomegranate— was explained and integrated beautifully.
-Her aunt stepping in as an advocate was such an important piece.
-The fact that she’s a poet herself and the way the book shows how art can be both healing and exploited. How vulnerability through art can be weaponized.
-The story puts her right on the edge of harm, but doesn’t push her into something life-shattering. It shows how she goes through the motions of adoration, passion, “love,” uneasiness… but she’s a teen. She ignores warnings, deludes herself at times, because she’s never believed. That was such a real depiction of manipulation and the irrationality of the teenage experience.
-The shift where other women and girls rally around her, and she finds the strength to tell her mom —a much appreciated full circle and healing moment. It opens the door to rebuilding a relationship that should have been her safety from the start.
-She was surrounded by good people, but the one she most wanted to love her didn’t see her, so she couldn’t hear the warnings from her friends.
-I appreciated learning more about Sudanese and Arabic culture, and seeing how peers with overbearing parents gave her a safe space before things shifted with the weirdo man.
My personal reflections as a mother:
-I got emotional because I was once a young woman and now I’m raising a little girl. I know what it’s like to be a young girl’s protector, but I couldn’t imagine my daughter fearing me so much that she’d feel unsafe, explore outside, and end up hurt.
*This is exactly why I parent the way I do: allowing my daughter to be expressive without making everything about how other people perceive her, teaching her about people without placing responsibility on her for others’ perversions.*
-I understand the “no sleepovers” rule, but not allowing young girls to express themselves through something as simple as aesthetics? No.
Final thoughts:
This book is powerful. I could cry even writing this review. Bright Red Fruit is a reminder to love on your daughters… your kids. Yes, protect them, but also be their friend. Be someone they can trust. Let them know that even if they disappoint you, even if they’re “in trouble,” they can depend on you and know you always have their best interest. See them. Hear them. Cultivate them. Support them. Correct them in love. And let them be human.
6 stars!!!!!!!! A book I’ll carry with me forever.
This one has been on my mind daily since I finished it. Honestly, I wish I could read it again for the first time and it’s only been a few days since I closed it.
This is a Persephone and Hades retelling/inspired story in a YA coming-of-age version, layered and symbolic.
Things I loved:
-This was my first novel in verse and I fell in love with the style. As someone in the poetry and writing world, this hit my sweet spot. Poetry books can be difficult for me because I’m picky, but this was perfection.
-It’s an exploration of how trauma and fear are passed down from mothers to daughters, and how those fears end up imprisoning young girls.
-The book captured the shame young girls get from the “aunties”—making everything about men and centering little girls’ lives around them, when really all they want is to just be kids and have friends, not be sexualized or scrutinized.
-The depiction of a mother who doesn’t fully see her child; while trying to protect her, she suffocates her is a dynamic we see over & over again—it's heartbreaking.
-The honesty of how a girl, once rumors are spread about her, no longer feels safe even at home. Constant surveillance. Constant assumptions. Her very existence tied to boys and men in ways she never asked for. It was heartbreaking and too real.
-From the mother’s perspective, there’s even resentment and fear of boys because of her father leaving—another generational layer.
- I loved the transitions, like from summer to her friend Tamadur, where the setting folds into the character introductions seamlessly.
-The symbolism of the pomegranate— was explained and integrated beautifully.
-Her aunt stepping in as an advocate was such an important piece.
-The fact that she’s a poet herself and the way the book shows how art can be both healing and exploited. How vulnerability through art can be weaponized.
-The story puts her right on the edge of harm, but doesn’t push her into something life-shattering. It shows how she goes through the motions of adoration, passion, “love,” uneasiness… but she’s a teen. She ignores warnings, deludes herself at times, because she’s never believed. That was such a real depiction of manipulation and the irrationality of the teenage experience.
-The shift where other women and girls rally around her, and she finds the strength to tell her mom —a much appreciated full circle and healing moment. It opens the door to rebuilding a relationship that should have been her safety from the start.
-She was surrounded by good people, but the one she most wanted to love her didn’t see her, so she couldn’t hear the warnings from her friends.
-I appreciated learning more about Sudanese and Arabic culture, and seeing how peers with overbearing parents gave her a safe space before things shifted with the weirdo man.
My personal reflections as a mother:
-I got emotional because I was once a young woman and now I’m raising a little girl. I know what it’s like to be a young girl’s protector, but I couldn’t imagine my daughter fearing me so much that she’d feel unsafe, explore outside, and end up hurt.
*This is exactly why I parent the way I do: allowing my daughter to be expressive without making everything about how other people perceive her, teaching her about people without placing responsibility on her for others’ perversions.*
-I understand the “no sleepovers” rule, but not allowing young girls to express themselves through something as simple as aesthetics? No.
Final thoughts:
This book is powerful. I could cry even writing this review. Bright Red Fruit is a reminder to love on your daughters… your kids. Yes, protect them, but also be their friend. Be someone they can trust. Let them know that even if they disappoint you, even if they’re “in trouble,” they can depend on you and know you always have their best interest. See them. Hear them. Cultivate them. Support them. Correct them in love. And let them be human.
6 stars!!!!!!!! A book I’ll carry with me forever.
August 6, 2024
Bright Red Fruit is a searing, tender coming of age novel and a really well-done Hades and Persephone retelling. Elhillo once again offers up a sensitively written , vulnerable portrait of a Sudanese girl’s inner life and struggles with her family and community. I liked this one even more than her first novel-in-verse because her poetics weren’t as fractal and sparse. She uses this rich, flowing style reminiscent of her other works. This novel also tackles a predatory, insidious relationship with an older man and coming into the book I wasn’t aware of just how much of this would be explored so please look up the trigger warnings so you’re better prepared than I was! Samira’s relationship with her mother was beautifully woven into this Demeter-Persephone framing and her friendships are written with an unfathomable warmth. As Warsan Shire said “Habibti Safia writes and it leaves a lump in your throat but also honey under your tongue.”
September 4, 2024
4.5 stars
A beautiful and engaging coming of age story written in verse. I felt an array of emotions while reading this. I was eager to find out how things ended with Horus, as well as, Samira’s relationship with her mom.
A beautiful and engaging coming of age story written in verse. I felt an array of emotions while reading this. I was eager to find out how things ended with Horus, as well as, Samira’s relationship with her mom.
January 23, 2025
I still feel like I've outgrown the YA coming-of-age era but this was a poignant story with some beautiful, dare I say, poetic writing that I'm glad I took a chance on. And the cover is absolutely gorgeous.
December 22, 2024
Favorite book of the year. no notes. I loved everything about this book. The focus on girlhood is so poignant and specific. It illustrates the insurmountable expectations placed on girls to be a certain way and behave a certain way. How girls are suppose to be the icons of innocence while at the same time preyed upon for it. I also love the mother-daughter relationship. It was fraught but you could also feel the love and tenderness. The author also captured the nuanced dynamics of immigrant families navigating new cultural contexts. Idk everything in this book worked for me. The writing is also just soo good. I’m not a big poetry girly but some of the poems could be standalones published in an anthology or something. It’s funny cus I didn’t super enjoy this author’s debut novel but she’s got my attention now.
January 29, 2024
Bright red fruit is a coming of age novel written in verse that explores cultural identity, exploitation of minors by predatory adults and freedom of expression. It's about Samira is a Sudanese-American living in DC, trying to navigate being 16 in a country so different from her culture, with a mom who doesn’t seem to understand what being a teenage girl in the US means. Her mom tries to hold her close, sometimes too tightly, to keep her safe from the unknown. Samira relies on writing poetry and her two best friends until one night while posting on a poetry website, an older man, Horus (25), reaches out to her, impressed by her poems and making her feel seen.
February 1, 2024
easily a 5 star read! this is a beautiful ya novel in verse. highly recommend if you enjoyed books like the poet x + punching the air!
February 6, 2024
A moving YA coming of age novel in verse featuring a Sudanese American teen girl and her struggles to be a 'good daughter' while also wanting to do the things average teen girls do. Things like hanging out with her friends (including boys), wearing what she wants and pursuing poetry as a career option. Things get complicated when one of her friend's mothers 'out' her to her own mother and she gets put under even stricter rules. Then she meets an older poet online and becomes involved with him only to start taking credit for her work. Full of strong emotions and hard life lessons, this is perfect for fans of authors like Elizabeth Acevedo and excellent on audio narrated by the author herself. Many thanks to @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!
September 14, 2025
I don't often write reviews, but I thought this book was so powerful and well-written. I'm a sucker for books in verse, but I think every young person should read this book. The connections to Persephone's story were clever and made me rethink that myth. The relationships (ALL of them) were told beautifully and realistically, and I think everyone can see themselves in at least one of the characters. I can't wait to hear from the author later this week!
September 8, 2024
Wow!! Safia Elhillo is amazing. This was such a great story. I felt every emotion with Samira and it was such a beautiful experience.
June 8, 2024
what an excellent way to highlight many aspects of arabic culture especially for immigrant families capturing a range of important societal issues. the message is very clear which is the best way to protect your child is by providing them unconditional support and showing you'll always be on their side as anything less won't be effective. the author's perspective feels authentic and true to the experiences of many arabic communities.
overall, great work.
overall, great work.
June 8, 2024
"The saxophones loneliness"- The best line
Okay, I tell you this was a very impactful story extremely and I loved how it related to Greek mythology in a way and it's about kind of reconnecting with the people in your lives that you don't notice are in your lives and loving you when you think they hate you when you're with toxic people and you're in that blind sate.
This is how to heal and this is a story about a young girl making her story known and man I don't even know how to explain it. It was good. It was really good.
And the toxic person in this book was very toxic. Kudos to the author on that because every time they walked on the page I was like "EW brother EW" -Stewie Griffin
Also, I read a lot of poetry books when I'm in the middle of a really horrible reading slump because my depression decided that it was a great idea to give me that. (Thanks a lot. Depression cuz for once I wouldn't have found an actual good book if it weren't for you. This is the only time my depression gets a thanks)
- From the literate child that somehow knows how to read
Okay, I tell you this was a very impactful story extremely and I loved how it related to Greek mythology in a way and it's about kind of reconnecting with the people in your lives that you don't notice are in your lives and loving you when you think they hate you when you're with toxic people and you're in that blind sate.
This is how to heal and this is a story about a young girl making her story known and man I don't even know how to explain it. It was good. It was really good.
And the toxic person in this book was very toxic. Kudos to the author on that because every time they walked on the page I was like "EW brother EW" -Stewie Griffin
Also, I read a lot of poetry books when I'm in the middle of a really horrible reading slump because my depression decided that it was a great idea to give me that. (Thanks a lot. Depression cuz for once I wouldn't have found an actual good book if it weren't for you. This is the only time my depression gets a thanks)
- From the literate child that somehow knows how to read
December 22, 2025
2025 Printz Honor! Told through emails, letters, and poetry in its many forms, Elhillo creates a realistic picture of a teenage girl trying to push against unfair perceptions.
February 6, 2024
Bright Red Fruit was a beautiful story, full of poems that tells the journey of a teenage girl, Samira, who is trying to navigate her own journey while under the watchful eyes of her mother and aunts. Samira felt that her mother was overprotective and strict. I love the title, it’s almost like touching the forbidden fruit and getting burned, as she found herself in a series of unfortunate circumstances.
I truly appreciated the message throughout. It talks about the possible dangers of online dating and signs of intimate partner violence. The importance of communication with your child and the cultural differences in dating as a teen and what is acceptable. I sympathized a lot with Samira. I don’t think she was being rebellious but she was influenced and taken advantage of and that really was difficult for her. I think anyone could read this and experience an aha-moment because these things can happen to anyone engaging online. The poetry site was a positive outlet for Samira, and luckily she had a village to support her throughout a difficult time. I enjoyed this one so much! The author just gets it right, every time!!
Arc from netgalley and the publisher.
August 17, 2024
I really enjoyed this one the cover is great and really caught my eye and when i found out it was written in poetry form i wanted to give it a go.. This was a really good coming of age novel that touched down on topics culturally and just showed the main character navigating life even when she knew she shouldnt be doing certain things and how the people around her tried to warn her and stuff. I thought the friendship with her and gabriel was so wholesome and supportive and even when things went south he was still there to support her and it was so cute. This follows the main character and her poetry and i loved the persephone tie ins and stuff.. We follow a girl who wants to start doing poetry and stuff and makes some bad decisions and her and her mothers relationship isnt the best but seeing them rekindle halfway through was really beautiful. I also really loved the support system she had from her aunt the whole book she was amazing. The storyline between horus and her was very messy but it all made sense in the end when people came together and started to realize he wasnt the person he was saying he was basically and just not a good person at all. This was a quick read and it had very good moments. Samira was a great lead for this novel!
February 19, 2024
4.5 stars. I so enjoyed this novel in verse which includes the author’s beautiful poetry. We meet Samira who is originally from Sudan, Muslim and finding her way as a teenager. She loves poetry and seems to have a gift for it. Although she’s never done anything bad, her reputation is tarnished with her Muslim community thinking she’s much more. She’s a normal teen who wants to wear American style clothes, makeup and interested in boys. Yet it isn’t until she meets Horus online, an older man who is a known poet. She’s been told to stay away from him but she can’t. Things go badly and she’s lost the trust of her mom, family and friends. Will samira risk it all to get her name back and make right with those she cares the most for?
June 12, 2025
Wow! An emotionally charged book. A beautifully written and important read. I hurt for Samira and all of the girls who have a similar story. I wanted to hold on to her, keep her safe, and punch Horus in the face... Enraging, heartbreaking, and inspiring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2024
4.5 stars!
May 11, 2024
Beautiful coming of age story!
February 17, 2025
Not only beautiful, remarkable.
April 20, 2024
I really like the poetry, but I spent too much time disliking most of the characters until the end. I am definitely not the demographic for this book.
October 8, 2025
Fascinating layout, made for a great audiobook! I just wanted to reach through and strangle Samira though. It was more terrifying because it could have happened to me.
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