Far Away from Here: A Novel

by Ambata Kazi

Far Away from Here  is a novel about three young Black American Muslims on the cusp of adulthood confronting faith, tradition, and the impact of their personal decisions in five years post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.

Far Away from Here is a novel set in five years post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans that focuses on the reunion of three young African American Muslims—Fatima, Tahani, and Saif—who grew up together and drifted apart in their teenage years.

The novel follows these three characters as they confront the traumas and choices of their early lives and the impact they’ve had on their paths to adulthood.

Through their interactions with each other, their family members, and their faith community, they are transformed by the understanding that they have everything they need to face their futures with confidence.

Genres: African American, Muslims

328 pages, Paperback

Published August 12, 2025

Reviews

[Kirin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This character centered book takes the lives of three young adults, and through their own interwoven points of views shares their trauma, their choices, their dreams, and their fears in a poignant book that centers Islam and the characters relationship with their faith, their masjid community, and the concept of home.  The Islam in this OWN voice love letter to New Orleans is so much a part of the characters' lives that I found myself snapping pictures on every page to share before quitting because it was taking me out of the story. The pictures I'm sharing, as a result are arbitrary as so many beautifully spoke to me. This adult book intentionally or not, forced me to confront my own assumptions, stereotypes, faults, and guilt, while tugging at my heart to see the growth and future possibilities for Fatima, Tahani, and Saif. The three distinct pov narratives feel real, the Black Muslim perspective so important, and the living breathing role of Islam so beautifully conveyed, that I'm just in awe of this book, and didn't want to miss a beat recommending it to others. 

SYNOPSIS:

The book opens from Fatima's perspective as she leaves Atlanta for New Orleans.  She is returning to the place of her childhood and heartache, to care for her ex fiance's mother in her final days.  Entering the home, reliving the memories of how Wakeel was killed, and facing Mama Tayyibah's looming death, highlight her weakened faith and force her to confront the community and friendships she left behind.

Tahani, the only daughter in a large family of boys finds herself a single mother to two little girls when she rebelled against her mother and made her own choices.  She never really left Islam though, and the community who raised her is still a part of her life, even though her own family is not.  As she tries to chart her own career dreams and balance her daily survival, she is surprised to find her childhood friend Fatima once again part of her life.

Saif, straddles two worlds: the young man learning his deen as a respected member of the masjid community, and a seasoned criminal unable to stop selling drugs.  He blames himself for Wakeel's death, and everyone else seems to agree that it should have been him gunned down, but Allah swt is All Forgiving and with Fatima's return, perhaps if she can find a way to forgive him, he can forgive himself.

WHY I LOVE IT:
Oh my heart. The characters and their dichotomies brought tears to my eyes multiple times.  The drug dealer teaching the hijabi grappling with Allah's will how to do tayammum, the young mom in revealing clothes waking up for fajr and taking her girls regularly to the masjid. What is in one's heart is for Allah swt alone, and this message forced me to face my own assumptions, stereotypes, and judgmental paradigms without didactically calling me out, and I love the book for the fictional shaking. 

The beauty of the convert stories, the history of Black Muslims in NOLA, the warmth and found family of the community, completely broke me in the best way possible.  None of the characters are having identity crisis as most literature depicts it, they are fighting their nafs, and other's expectations, and to be shown their struggles, and yearning, in the proses gentle manner warmed my heart.

I wanted some epilogue space for Baba Kareem, and I honestly tried and failed to figure out the time line as the story circles around itself numerous times in its telling. But, I hope this author keeps writing and telling the stories we need as an ummah and larger community to hear, but to also feel so deeply.

FLAGS:

There is nothing sensationalized, but there are themes of drugs, killing, shooting, death, illness, dating, rebelling, rape, children out of wedlock, disowning, judging, fear, racism, Islamophobia.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

This is too adult for middle school, I do think upper high school could handle it, but it is solidly that "New Adult" category, with characters in their twenties.  At times they have some adult stresses, or coming of age options, and/or youthful possibilities. Often in multitudes they vacillate with what they have to face, and the limited experiences they have, with family expectations and independent choices.

[sash. · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️

Thank you to She Writes Press, NetGalley and Amabta Kazi for delivering on the BEST book of 2025! The writing style was everything I need at this beautiful moment in time. It was like sitting on my couch with a girlfriend, listening to a whirlwind story about a place (New Orleans) I've always wanted to visit, that feels mythical and mystical because of its history and folklore, but is grounded in reality by how diverse and BLACK it is.

If I could give this books a billion stars, I absolutely would. I cannot wait for August 12, 2025 when this novel will be embraced by the world. It is by far one of the most engaging, moving, incredibly uplifting and fulfilling books I've read all year. I was VERY scared for a couple of my faves and since this is a spoiler free zone, there is nothing much else to say other than red this book. I loved it so so so so much, I'm about to go pre-order my copy now. Big up, Ambata Kazi! You did your big one with your debut!

[Elisabeth M · Rating 5 out of 5]

[ARC via NetGalley] Incredible storytelling in this debut novel by Ambata Kazi centering the voices of Black Muslim women in America. Kazi allows the reader to enter into this world of tremendous and gentle faith, and tackles the topics of grief, forgiveness, faith, race, with sensitivity but also empowerment. I’m was blown away by the delicate prose and how the Kazi viscerally drew us into the sights, smells, and emotions of this resilient New Orleans community.
This novel follows our broken yet evolving protagonists, Fatima, Tahani, and Saif, in the aftermath of a friend’s death, and how these unlikely and complicated childhood friendships grow in their respective journeys of adulthood. Kazi doesn’t shy away from sensitive topics, and truly weaves an intricate narrative that uplifts the historically underrepresented Black Muslim community. While I felt like the resolution felt a bit rushed, I know that this will be a story that stays with me for a long time.

A favorite quote: “Well, only you can answer that, baby, but I’ll tell you what I know. Your faith can wax and wane like the moon, turn from gush to tiny trickle and everything in between. That’s normal in life. The person you share your life with, you want them to be there holding you up through all the phases.”

[TND · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Far Away From Here. I am a slow reader, but I picked up this book and couldn’t put it down! Ambata Kazi brings the reader inside the minds and the hearts of the characters she writes which makes it easy and fun to read.

The book begins in the perspective of Fatima, a young woman who has returned to her hometown in New Orleans to help her deceased fiance’s mother who is battling cancer. We begin to understand who Fatima is and what her romance with her beloved Wakeel was like. Eventually, we shift into another perspective, Tahani, who is an old friend of Fatima. Tahani is now a single mother, who has two children out of wedlock. We come to see that her choices have impacted her relationship with her family and the Muslim community as a whole. The third perspective change is with Saif, who I found to be the most compelling character. Saif is the cousin and close friend of Wakeel, Fatima’s deceased fiance. Wakeel’s death occurred due to Saif's involvement with drug dealing gang members. Saif is constantly confronting his emotions of guilt and his struggle to break free from the control of the gang leader. He also struggles to maintain control over his identity— he wants to be a leader in the Muslim community often standing in as the imam during Friday prayers, but he constantly deals with shame for his double life.

Over the course of the book we see how each one of these characters views the world. We watch them analyze their past life choices and consider how their current circumstances will impact their futures. For each one, Muslim identity is an important part of the puzzle. Each one seems to be grounded in their faith, but struggle with how others perceive them. I loved how we slowly learn about their upbringings. It was a good reminder that family dynamics shape adults in ways that are not visible to the outsider. You have to really know someone’s upbringing to understand why they made certain decisions. Two of these characters deal with abandonment wounds and those wounds are eventually addressed. It felt very realistic.

I loved how this book took us to a period in New Orleans history that was marked by tragedy (post Katrina). But it tells a story from the perspective of the Black Muslim community. We hear stories from first and second generation Black Muslims, which is a rare perspective. The book is filled with little histories that are often not told in media/fiction. I really appreciated hearing these stories (although sometimes they took us away from the main characters and plots a bit too much).

I had wished we had gotten a chance to spend more time with Saif. His character was the most interesting. He’s complex and that makes for good conflict. I also wished we had more time to spend with Fatima as she made her choice of the right romantic partner to pursue. The story begins and ends with her, but towards the middle of the book I felt like action was happening to her instead of her creating the action/conflict. Maybe she was just a more passive character overall.

In the end, this author does a fantastic job of bringing to life a world I would not have spent much time with. As a Black Muslim woman from Boston, I know much of the stories and experiences of Muslims on the East Coast. Learning about the Black Muslim experience in the South was a wonderful experience for me. I give this book 5 stars! Loved it and can’t wait to read Kazi’s next book!

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recommended: kinda
For a thoughtful and reflective story, for a lack of plot or action, for a lot of information and discussion of Islam, for characters with a lot of various trauma they carry around

Thoughts:
Man, I don't know, I just wasn't compelled by this at any point. It is definitely more of a focus on characters than plot. That can go either way for me but I just didn't really get into it here. I do wonder how much of that is just because the lives of the characters are so different from my own. That's largely why I wanted to read this book of course, but it might also have been a barrier to me connecting with them as much as I might usually. Living in the American deep South, living through a horrific natural disaster, living through gang violence and death of a friend or loved one, being a caretaker for someone with cancer, being a single mother, let alone being black and Muslim, there are a lot of ways we diverge that might be my own barriers to falling into this story. That said though, I often read books with characters who I differ from in multiple ways, that's the whole point, and I usually still care about them and feel invested.

So while this is definitely a character focused story, there was such a lack of plot that it felt too unbalanced. There are a few small driving questions, like what will she do about the store and what will happen to the family and all, but none of it is very focused. It's more about the way the characters approach those questions and less about the answers to them. In short, I guess I was bored. I probably wouldn't have finished this if it wasn't an ARC.

One of the bigger disconnects for me in this was the lengthy conversational interviews with a woman who converted to Islam and her story. There is like two solid chapters that are just listening to her talk about it and that felt pretty preachy and dry to me. It was even worse at the end when there was literally an entire presentation done and I was sitting here like, am I in a seminar right now? Wasn't really my flavor.

So what is strong about this story? Well, if you are any of the list of things I mentioned earlier than you probably will have a much easier time connecting to these characters and their story. There are some emotionally mature discussions that occur, and some nice tokens of wisdom that you could carry with you into your own life. Some of the characters reflections can give you a gateway into your own consideration of the same questions.

Overall, I guess this book is more slow thoughtful character questions then I was ready for and ended up not really enjoying it. If you go into it expecting that you will probably have a better time than I did with my read through. It does address many difficult and painful topics, while blending those with hope and healing, primarily through religion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy. This is my honest review.

[Aurora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Far Away from Here by Ambata Kazi is a contemplative and tender novel that explores grief, forgiveness, reconnection, and faith through the lives of three Black American Muslims set in post-Katrina New Orleans. Each character brings their own emotional history to the forefront, and the story beautifully navigates their individual journeys and shared pasts.

Fatima’s return to New Orleans after five years away forces her to confront the grief she’s long buried. Stepping back into the spaces that once held love, loss, and community, she’s drawn into the complicated work of healing. Forgiveness becomes a central theme as she begins to rebuild trust with someone from her past who is also learning to move forward. At the same time, Fatima’s journey reconnects her with her faith, not out of absence, but out of a need for deeper understanding. Through conversations and quiet reflection, we see her engage with Islam in a way that feels personal and expansive, reshaped by her growth.

Saif, too, is a character walking the line between past mistakes and the man he hopes to become. His story is one of spiritual challenge, trying to move forward while still entangled in the survival systems that shaped him. He carries guilt, faith, and a desire for redemption, and watching his transformation offers a powerful and sobering contrast to the journeys of those around him.

Then there’s Tahani. Her story brings an ache, as she navigates motherhood, estrangement, and the difficult process of learning to trust again. Raising two daughters on her own, she grapples with the tension between independence and vulnerability, especially when it comes to love. Her relationship with Asaad invites a tenderness she doesn’t quite know how to hold, and watching her begin to see herself as more than just a mother—as a full, deserving woman—is one of the most powerful arcs in the novel.

As she begins to mend the relationship with her mother, there’s a reckoning with generational wounds and cultural expectations. Through Tahani, we see the deep, sometimes messy love that exists between women, between mothers and daughters, and the way healing often begins with simply being seen.

One of the greatest strengths of this book is how it portrays Islam through different lenses, showing how each character engages with their faith in ways shaped by experience, loss, and personal growth. The spiritual journeys feel layered and lived-in, full of nuance and sincerity. I do wish the book had included a glossary for some of the terminology; while it’s easy enough to look up, it would have been a thoughtful addition for readers unfamiliar with certain aspects of the faith.

[aishareadsnrambles · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK: FAR FROM HOME
AUTHOR: AMBATA KAZI
PUB DATE: AUGUST, 2024
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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Once I saw 'muslims' in tbe synopsis, I requested the book immediately and I really, really liked this book. It had everything, amazing characters, setting, and storyline. I loved the author's description of the characters most of whom were black. I enjoyed reading it and I finished it in a day.
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The book followed three main characters who were childhood friends; Fatima, Tahini, Saif and still suffering from the trauma of their dead friend, Wakeel. I liked and appreciatee how the story of the three friends and how unique their struggles were. I liked tbe diversity, the pace of the storyline.
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Another favorite thing is the representation of Islam and Muslims in the light we deserve and although I'm not American, I'm African and i could relate to the events at the mosque, it was so nice! I liked the side characters and the congregation of the masjid. I also liked how the characters had flaws but they were associated with Islam.
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The backbone of the book was Wakeel's death and its aftermath although it was five years later. All three main characters, especially Fatima and Saif were still deeply grieving the death of their fiancee and cousin respectively. I loved seeing the characters heal and seek closure while also mending broken relationships.
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This book was really good with themes of self discovery, healing, religion, love, family and black culture. The ending was also okay and fitting. I would definitely really this book, it's worth the time.
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[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far Away from Here immediately pulled me in with its focus on the experiences of Black Muslim women in America — stories that need to be told and heard more often.

The novel follows three childhood friends, Fatima, Tahani, and Saif, as they reconnect in post-Katrina New Orleans. Each of them felt layered and human: I felt for Fatima’s conflict between wanting inclusion yet feeling excluded, even when her judgmental streak made her hard to love at times. Tahani, resolute in her choices, had one of my favorite arcs, and Saif — whose past choices seemed unforgivable — ended up drawing me in so much that by the end, Ambata had me rooting for him.

The setting wasn’t just a backdrop; it brought the story to life. The depiction of the Black Muslim community reminded me of home and deepened my appreciation and understanding of the faith. It also made me want to visit New Orleans for myself.

When I turned the last page, I was left with hope — hope that healing, growth, and reconciliation are possible if we believe in them and do the work. At the same time, there was a sadness in watching how some outcomes unfolded, but they felt true to life.

I would definitely recommend Far Away from Here. It’s a beautifully written, easy read that offers an authentic glimpse into the lives of Black Muslims in America. Perfect for book clubs or anyone looking to explore community, faith, and resilience through fiction.

[Daniella Boyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC via net galley for Far Away from Here.

A book on Black Muslim young folks post Katrina, this book is truly unique and fills a gap in our current fiction literature.

Even though my lived experiences are different than Fatima, Saif, and Tahani’s, they were relatable characters trying their best amidst trauma. I appreciated reading how they each practiced their faith and that faith doesn’t have to look one way. I also appreciate how we get to know their dreams and their strengths, their lives are a commentary on the systemic challenges of social mobility with being multiply marginalized in our world.

I think that some of this might be missed by a reader who doesn’t know much about Islam. There were things I needed to look up for explanation, which doesn’t bother me, but night give some readers trouble.

For me it would have helped to have more defined chapters and with three main characters, it would have helped to have person first chapters to fully capture more emotions and experiences. I had a hard time keeping up with all the additional family members/community members, but I guess this comes with the territory of having three main characters.

The author does a great job of capturing the enclave our main characters exist in. Lots of detail that tells me the author is intimately connected to this community.

3/5⭐️ for me

[Noriboo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling story written from the perspective of three young Black Muslim women who are grieving the loss of their friend. We get to know them and how they practice their religion, showing us that there's different ways to practice. Because we have three main characters, we also get introduced to a lot of side characters as they have an involved community. I'd rather we focused on a smaller circle because I do feel like sometimes emotions got lost in the sauce. I appreciated the difference in how the grieve would show up with different characters, the manners in which the characters navigated, mending relationships, and healing felt realistic. It is a lovely story about love, loss, and community.

[Sabeen Rana · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. I can't remember the last time I finished a book so quickly. It is so so beautifully written. The characters, their connection to their faith, and to their community (particularly the elders in the community) was so refreshing and completely encapsulating.
So grateful for depictions of Muslims in the US like this 💜