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Strange Girls
An award-winning international author’s stunning US debut about two old college friends who reunite over a feverish weekend and are forced to confront what happened between them years ago
A decade has passed since Ava spoke to Aliya. During the years of silence, Ava's life has remained at a standstill, while Aliya got the one thing they both wanted more than anything: a book deal. Forced back together at a mutual friend’s bachelorette in London, Ava returns to Aliya’s doorstep, desperate to unpack the truth of their shared history—and what they meant to each other.
When the two first met in the halls of their historic campus, their connection was electric. Aliya and Ava created a world of their own through the stories they wrote, influencing and borrowing from each other’s work. But when the end of college loomed, the real world began to pull them in opposite directions. Was their bond ever truly as strong as Aliya thought? And what would become of the stories they told themselves about each other?
Weaving together the friends’ past and present, Strange Girls is an ingenious portrait of a fraught friendship, and an exploration of the ties forged in the intensity of the college experience, and the scars left when they break.
A decade has passed since Ava spoke to Aliya. During the years of silence, Ava's life has remained at a standstill, while Aliya got the one thing they both wanted more than anything: a book deal. Forced back together at a mutual friend’s bachelorette in London, Ava returns to Aliya’s doorstep, desperate to unpack the truth of their shared history—and what they meant to each other.
When the two first met in the halls of their historic campus, their connection was electric. Aliya and Ava created a world of their own through the stories they wrote, influencing and borrowing from each other’s work. But when the end of college loomed, the real world began to pull them in opposite directions. Was their bond ever truly as strong as Aliya thought? And what would become of the stories they told themselves about each other?
Weaving together the friends’ past and present, Strange Girls is an ingenious portrait of a fraught friendship, and an exploration of the ties forged in the intensity of the college experience, and the scars left when they break.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 10, 2026
122 people are currently reading
13537 people want to read
About the author
Sarvat Hasin
6 books128 followersSarvat Hasin is from Pakistan. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford.
Her first novel, This Wide Night, was published by Penguin India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second book You Can’t Go Home Again was published in 2018 and featured in Vogue India’s and The Hindu’s end of year lists. She won the Moth Writer’s Retreat Bursary in 2018 and the Mo Siewcharran Prize in 2019. Her essays and poetry have appeared in publications such as Outsiders, The Mays Anthology, English PEN, and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives in London and works at the Almeida Theatre.
Her new novel, The Giant Dark, is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is forthcoming from Dialogue Books on the 8th of July
Her first novel, This Wide Night, was published by Penguin India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second book You Can’t Go Home Again was published in 2018 and featured in Vogue India’s and The Hindu’s end of year lists. She won the Moth Writer’s Retreat Bursary in 2018 and the Mo Siewcharran Prize in 2019. Her essays and poetry have appeared in publications such as Outsiders, The Mays Anthology, English PEN, and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives in London and works at the Almeida Theatre.
Her new novel, The Giant Dark, is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is forthcoming from Dialogue Books on the 8th of July
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
the type of vibe me and my friends bring to the function
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
(review to come)
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
(review to come)
April 4, 2026
I love books about complex, codependent female friendships! Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet is my favourite for a reason.
In Strange Girls, Hasin perfectly captures the claustrophobic, all-consuming nature of female friendships in your youth, and the reverberating impacts these relationships can have throughout our lives, even decades later.
It’s a wonderfully-written novel which also explores envy, ambition, betrayal, and the intersection of art and identity, propelled along by the intimate, mundane moments that make up a friendship. It’s sharp, tender, and also painfully nostalgic in a way most campus novels are to me - probably because the pandemic robbed me of the typical university experience (still not over it). It was one of those books I was drawn to whenever I had a free moment.
4.5
In Strange Girls, Hasin perfectly captures the claustrophobic, all-consuming nature of female friendships in your youth, and the reverberating impacts these relationships can have throughout our lives, even decades later.
It’s a wonderfully-written novel which also explores envy, ambition, betrayal, and the intersection of art and identity, propelled along by the intimate, mundane moments that make up a friendship. It’s sharp, tender, and also painfully nostalgic in a way most campus novels are to me - probably because the pandemic robbed me of the typical university experience (still not over it). It was one of those books I was drawn to whenever I had a free moment.
4.5
March 31, 2026
A week into opening my first-ever Instagram account, I felt a notification chime in one day. An old acquaintance, let's call her K, had sent a follow request. Quickly, as though I'd stepped on shards of broken glass walking barefoot, I felt a swift hit in my chest. I blocked her account immediately. But two months later, on a late-night doomscrolling spiral, I went through the whole process of unblocking and blocking again, but only after having thoroughly stalked her profile first. Mine is private, so I'll relish her inability to do the same.
Bear with me here, this happened last year. This girl and I had been joined at the hips all through sixth grade and right at the beginning of seventh grade had a fallout so apocalyptic in its nature that even after nearly eight years, I had a visceral reaction to the mere thought of reconnecting with her again. I'll want you to believe I'm not that manic in general. I rarely hold grudges, and I put excruciating measures into coming across as polite to everyone, even if the niceties aren't a hundred per cent genuine half the time. k truly is That Girl.
Strange Girls is the kind of book that has this inexplicable feeling of nostalgia attached to it, even though it's a brand new release. Centred around the trials and tribulations of a female friendship, from the early days of golden-warm fondness to the inevitable death by a thousand cuts once the time runs out, this book is bound to be relatable to those who've lived through something like that. Ava and Aliya meet at a UK university, they get pulled into each other's stories almost immediately, and then time passes until one day they wake up and realise that the friendship has slowly imploded on itself. Aliya comes from an affluent Pakistani family from Karachi, while Ava is Jewish American with a volatile, divorced mother. There are also Norah and Hina, their two other housemates who are prominent characters in their stories themselves. College life is a fairyland, and once you've graduated, the spell is broken, and no matter how hard you try, you can never restore the balance of the equililibrium. So both of them move on, until they're both invited to Norah's wedding, and old wounds open once again. Can Ava and Aliya get past the point of no return? You'd have to read the book.
The first thing I noticed while reading the book is the author's beautiful writing style. I don't know if it falls into the category of "MFA writing"... I never was good at diagnosing that, at any rate. If I like the prose, I just like it, nothing else truly matters. The characters are complex, especially as Aliya, as a non-hijabi Muslim, is often asked to explain in the West her relationship with the religion she was born into, and there isn't a clear answer to that. I really liked the dichotomy between her and Hina, the Muslim woman born and raised in the UK but who's clearly a lot more religious than Aliya herself. The Bollywood references were cute, even though sometimes as an Indian I would scoff at some of the ostensibly "Pakistani" cultural things the author would mention, because those are identical to India's, but that's natural, you know, on both our parts, all things considered. I really liked the other characters and their characterisations too, especially as none of them felt one-dimensional, even though they were in the danger of becoming rather tropey at times.
My only gripe, if you can call it that, is with its ending, as the chronology of the epilogue feels intentionally vague. I liked the book tremendously, but the ending could've been better. But this still gets a full-fledged four-point-five-star rating from me. I'll surely be on the lookout for the author's next book.
Thought Before Reading
"Complicated girl friendships"...say no more!
Bear with me here, this happened last year. This girl and I had been joined at the hips all through sixth grade and right at the beginning of seventh grade had a fallout so apocalyptic in its nature that even after nearly eight years, I had a visceral reaction to the mere thought of reconnecting with her again. I'll want you to believe I'm not that manic in general. I rarely hold grudges, and I put excruciating measures into coming across as polite to everyone, even if the niceties aren't a hundred per cent genuine half the time. k truly is That Girl.
Strange Girls is the kind of book that has this inexplicable feeling of nostalgia attached to it, even though it's a brand new release. Centred around the trials and tribulations of a female friendship, from the early days of golden-warm fondness to the inevitable death by a thousand cuts once the time runs out, this book is bound to be relatable to those who've lived through something like that. Ava and Aliya meet at a UK university, they get pulled into each other's stories almost immediately, and then time passes until one day they wake up and realise that the friendship has slowly imploded on itself. Aliya comes from an affluent Pakistani family from Karachi, while Ava is Jewish American with a volatile, divorced mother. There are also Norah and Hina, their two other housemates who are prominent characters in their stories themselves. College life is a fairyland, and once you've graduated, the spell is broken, and no matter how hard you try, you can never restore the balance of the equililibrium. So both of them move on, until they're both invited to Norah's wedding, and old wounds open once again. Can Ava and Aliya get past the point of no return? You'd have to read the book.
The first thing I noticed while reading the book is the author's beautiful writing style. I don't know if it falls into the category of "MFA writing"... I never was good at diagnosing that, at any rate. If I like the prose, I just like it, nothing else truly matters. The characters are complex, especially as Aliya, as a non-hijabi Muslim, is often asked to explain in the West her relationship with the religion she was born into, and there isn't a clear answer to that. I really liked the dichotomy between her and Hina, the Muslim woman born and raised in the UK but who's clearly a lot more religious than Aliya herself. The Bollywood references were cute, even though sometimes as an Indian I would scoff at some of the ostensibly "Pakistani" cultural things the author would mention, because those are identical to India's, but that's natural, you know, on both our parts, all things considered. I really liked the other characters and their characterisations too, especially as none of them felt one-dimensional, even though they were in the danger of becoming rather tropey at times.
My only gripe, if you can call it that, is with its ending, as the chronology of the epilogue feels intentionally vague. I liked the book tremendously, but the ending could've been better. But this still gets a full-fledged four-point-five-star rating from me. I'll surely be on the lookout for the author's next book.
Thought Before Reading
"Complicated girl friendships"...say no more!
March 13, 2026
At a small university somewhere near London, Ava, a Jewish American, forms an intense (but lopsided) friendship with Aliya, a Muslim from Pakistan. Together, they are self-styled ‘strange girls’. (The title comes from that old poster you’ve probably seen a hundred times on Tumblr etc: STRANGE GIRLS... WHY? WERE THEY BORN – Ava has it on her wall.) Years later, now estranged, the two meet again. A bitter Ava is jealous and scornful of Aliya’s choices in life, but for Aliya, the story is a lot more complicated.
This novel is simultaneously dreamlike and grounded. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be ‘wistful’. It’s imbued with nostalgia that is evoked well, and endlessly relatable, because its source is a timeless thing: the feeling and experience of being young. I liked Hasin’s use of a fictitious university, which creates the sense of a collegiate environment without the more typical example of Oxbridge. Aliya and Ava’s shared world is unusual but insular and really all quite tame and intellectual – not a criticism, I liked seeing this depicted in a book, that their ‘strangeness’ isn’t founded on anything objectively remarkable.
The one thing I will say is that the very end didn’t quite work for me and I felt it was slightly out of step with how the rest of the story had unfolded – although I do understand what Hasin was trying to do here. The ambiguous, incomplete nature of Aliya and Ava’s ending is fitting not because it’s satisfying but precisely because it isn’t.
I received an advance review copy of Strange Girls from the publisher through Edelweiss.
This novel is simultaneously dreamlike and grounded. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be ‘wistful’. It’s imbued with nostalgia that is evoked well, and endlessly relatable, because its source is a timeless thing: the feeling and experience of being young. I liked Hasin’s use of a fictitious university, which creates the sense of a collegiate environment without the more typical example of Oxbridge. Aliya and Ava’s shared world is unusual but insular and really all quite tame and intellectual – not a criticism, I liked seeing this depicted in a book, that their ‘strangeness’ isn’t founded on anything objectively remarkable.
The one thing I will say is that the very end didn’t quite work for me and I felt it was slightly out of step with how the rest of the story had unfolded – although I do understand what Hasin was trying to do here. The ambiguous, incomplete nature of Aliya and Ava’s ending is fitting not because it’s satisfying but precisely because it isn’t.
I received an advance review copy of Strange Girls from the publisher through Edelweiss.
March 8, 2026
the trials and tribulations of a codependent friendship. the type where your bestfriend is the one great love of your life… this is so beautifully written. the book immerses you in aliya and ava’s friendship by switching between being in aliya’s younger, present mind and ava’s reflection on their friendship with hindsight as an adult.
i felt every ounce of heartbreak in this story. it’s so real and so raw. simply stunning.
i felt every ounce of heartbreak in this story. it’s so real and so raw. simply stunning.
March 12, 2026
There's then and there's now: Then, Aliya is an international student in London, uncertain and struggling to find her footing. When she meets Ava, it's clear to both of them that they've each found their person. Everything changes. Now, Ava is ten years out of university and surviving rather than thriving: isolated in Scotland, bank account chronically low, her dreams of publishing a novel gone stale. And now, the two of them are back together in London, meeting after years apart, no longer sure what to say to each other.
We both chose London. It is not a surprise when romantic girls who like books choose London. It means nothing except that if we'd not picked it, we'd not have ended up in each other's lives. (loc. 1192*)
I am drawn to books about platonic friendship. The one Aliya and Ava have is so specific and set so relatable: Their friendship is intense (not least because they're both intense) but at the same time uncertain; they aren't quite old enough when they meet, or with quite enough life experience, to be confident in themselves and their friendship. They fall into something kind of enmeshed, mostly healthy, something where they love fiercely and at the same time are not always sure what is right or true.
The split in perspective works brilliantly well. We hear only from Aliya in the Then and only from Ava in the Now, and both they and their relationship have changed so much in the meantime that there's an initial disconnect in the ways they view each other. For Aliya in university, Ava is a grounding force, confident and direct and talented. But for Ava as an adult, Aliya is the one who has it together—married, with a book on the way, stable. Neither of them has changed, not really, but their places in the world have.
The early-evening sun spills in through net curtains and lights up all the things they have put down here together. These are the things I should want. (loc. 563)
One point of confusion: I did not really understand the ending. I'm looking forward to seeing what others have to say about this, as I suspect the book is doing something more intentional than I fully grasped. It didn't work as well for me as the rest of the book—but then, that might change once I understand the ending better. It's a quiet book, and although there's drama (they are so young in the Then, and have so much unprocessed history in the Now), it tends to be small-scale. Not minor for them, in their lives, but all told there's not all that much that happens. Again, it works well within the context of the book, but this is definitely one for lit fic readers and those who don't mind a quieter story.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
We both chose London. It is not a surprise when romantic girls who like books choose London. It means nothing except that if we'd not picked it, we'd not have ended up in each other's lives. (loc. 1192*)
I am drawn to books about platonic friendship. The one Aliya and Ava have is so specific and set so relatable: Their friendship is intense (not least because they're both intense) but at the same time uncertain; they aren't quite old enough when they meet, or with quite enough life experience, to be confident in themselves and their friendship. They fall into something kind of enmeshed, mostly healthy, something where they love fiercely and at the same time are not always sure what is right or true.
The split in perspective works brilliantly well. We hear only from Aliya in the Then and only from Ava in the Now, and both they and their relationship have changed so much in the meantime that there's an initial disconnect in the ways they view each other. For Aliya in university, Ava is a grounding force, confident and direct and talented. But for Ava as an adult, Aliya is the one who has it together—married, with a book on the way, stable. Neither of them has changed, not really, but their places in the world have.
The early-evening sun spills in through net curtains and lights up all the things they have put down here together. These are the things I should want. (loc. 563)
One point of confusion: I did not really understand the ending. I'm looking forward to seeing what others have to say about this, as I suspect the book is doing something more intentional than I fully grasped. It didn't work as well for me as the rest of the book—but then, that might change once I understand the ending better. It's a quiet book, and although there's drama (they are so young in the Then, and have so much unprocessed history in the Now), it tends to be small-scale. Not minor for them, in their lives, but all told there's not all that much that happens. Again, it works well within the context of the book, but this is definitely one for lit fic readers and those who don't mind a quieter story.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
January 27, 2026
ugh so good. i love a book that gives me girl so confusing vibes about the INTENSITY of friendship and what it means when there are queer undertones, all the power in the words not spoken. my best reading month ever i think ???
May 1, 2026
the ending????
March 10, 2026
“We weren’t in a friendship that could sustain itself. I couldn’t live like that. It was too tight in there for us to grow. We couldn’t stay like that forever. You must see that. People don’t live that way forever. They grow out of those things. They move on. Life moves on.”
Sarvat Hasin's STRANGE GIRLS explores the emotional complexity that come from Ava and Aliya's friendship. Set in dual timelines and POV's, Hasin shows what it's like to form, sustain, lose and renew a once in a lifetime connection. I heavily related to what it's like to be so tight with a friend that you practically merge into one person. Hasin nailed the push and pull of codependent friendships and how difficult it is to sustain such an extreme level of emotional and physical closeness.
I've seen this plot play out with romantic relationships to no end, so it's refreshing to see friendships in the spotlight because those are also the connections that shape us, for better or for worse. It's interesting how such a deep level of friendship can sometimes turn into limerence and blur the line between what makes a platonic or romantic bond.
I've found myself in similar dynamics before, so I felt quite seen by this book. People always talk about romantic breakups, but they rarely focus on how equally hard the growing pains of friendship can be. After reading this book, Hasin has reminded me that I have been both an Ava and an Aliya in my friendships. This is a touching literary fiction with insightful and quotable prose, and bonus points for THE DREAMERS reference. Thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Sarvat Hasin's STRANGE GIRLS explores the emotional complexity that come from Ava and Aliya's friendship. Set in dual timelines and POV's, Hasin shows what it's like to form, sustain, lose and renew a once in a lifetime connection. I heavily related to what it's like to be so tight with a friend that you practically merge into one person. Hasin nailed the push and pull of codependent friendships and how difficult it is to sustain such an extreme level of emotional and physical closeness.
I've seen this plot play out with romantic relationships to no end, so it's refreshing to see friendships in the spotlight because those are also the connections that shape us, for better or for worse. It's interesting how such a deep level of friendship can sometimes turn into limerence and blur the line between what makes a platonic or romantic bond.
I've found myself in similar dynamics before, so I felt quite seen by this book. People always talk about romantic breakups, but they rarely focus on how equally hard the growing pains of friendship can be. After reading this book, Hasin has reminded me that I have been both an Ava and an Aliya in my friendships. This is a touching literary fiction with insightful and quotable prose, and bonus points for THE DREAMERS reference. Thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Read
March 12, 2026DNF @ p120
Pre-Read Notes:
Have you seen that wild ass cover??
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) I caught Covid this winter and was wiped out for two whole months. I'm quite behind on arc reviews actually and it may be making me stern about DNFing early if I'm not enjoying a book. I made it through half of this one before giving up, as I loved the concept and the cover, but the plot was buried and the action convoluted.
My 3 Favorite Things:
✔️ "I have heard there are relationships like that, that go dormant for years but come alive, restored to their former vibrancy just as they were before, as if a slip of time has opened to let you through to the last moment of intimacy. Perhaps this will be us...." I'm surprised to find I relate to this.
✔️ "When Aliya got to university, she mostly stopped speaking. It happened quite gradually. First on the plane on the way over, she noticed the comfort of silence, of not needing to communicate with anyone except to hand over her ticket or passport and listen to their instructions. She didn’t need many words. Nods and gestures of agreement sufficed." This is fascinating character development. Because again, the author doesn't pathologize or stigmatize her character.
✔️ "I watch her whirl and spin like a dervish." p40 The writing is a little stilted.
Thank you to Sarvat Hasin, Dutton, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of STRANGE GIRLS. All views are mine.
Pre-Read Notes:
Have you seen that wild ass cover??
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) I caught Covid this winter and was wiped out for two whole months. I'm quite behind on arc reviews actually and it may be making me stern about DNFing early if I'm not enjoying a book. I made it through half of this one before giving up, as I loved the concept and the cover, but the plot was buried and the action convoluted.
My 3 Favorite Things:
✔️ "I have heard there are relationships like that, that go dormant for years but come alive, restored to their former vibrancy just as they were before, as if a slip of time has opened to let you through to the last moment of intimacy. Perhaps this will be us...." I'm surprised to find I relate to this.
✔️ "When Aliya got to university, she mostly stopped speaking. It happened quite gradually. First on the plane on the way over, she noticed the comfort of silence, of not needing to communicate with anyone except to hand over her ticket or passport and listen to their instructions. She didn’t need many words. Nods and gestures of agreement sufficed." This is fascinating character development. Because again, the author doesn't pathologize or stigmatize her character.
✔️ "I watch her whirl and spin like a dervish." p40 The writing is a little stilted.
Thank you to Sarvat Hasin, Dutton, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of STRANGE GIRLS. All views are mine.
February 18, 2026
maybe 3.5? idk i wanted more from the story
December 12, 2025
Ava and Aliya meet in college and connect over writing. In the past timeline, their relationship grows slowly… part creative partnership, part friendship, and part something neither is ready to name. The present day timeline finds them as adults who have slipped out of each other’s orbit.
The plot is deliberately low energy built from flashbacks which are a mix of mundane and intimate moments. While the story ends on a cliffhanger, it also leaves space for the possibility of messy unresolved love.
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
The plot is deliberately low energy built from flashbacks which are a mix of mundane and intimate moments. While the story ends on a cliffhanger, it also leaves space for the possibility of messy unresolved love.
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
April 20, 2026
conflicted about this one but ultimately i really liked it. i think it nailed the death of a thousand cuts important friendships in your life can go through, and how to navigate important friendships in a culture that expects you to treat them as unimportant. this was very visceral in a way i have recently been dealing with - the feeling of certainty that something between you and a friend has changed permanently, but you're not sure how you got there or what can be done about it. some really good character work - i liked the prose, even if the dialogue was a bit overwrought at times.
(inb4 this paragraph, Yes I'm A Cancer) before i came out as a lesbian i always had a extreme sensitivity to conflict and endings of friendships with the women in my life. a certain friendship of mine derailed pretty harshly and unexpectedly a few years ago and i wept at bars and went on about it until my other friends had to very nicely tell me it was time to move on. ever since that, it's been really hard not to brace for impact when my friends get into relationships, get pregnant, move, etc - even now that i am out of the closet, partnered happily, etc. i feel like i'm often waiting for the other shoe to drop. its awful!! i love my friends so deeply and i full on reject a culture where the ~prize is ur romantic partner and that being close with your friends is a girlhood thing to shed out of . i think this is a layer of the alienation many queer women feel. ALL OF THIS TO SAY ... obviously this resonated and was emotional for me
however, the tightness of it struggles in the last 50 pages or so. the references feel less like carving out a space in time and more meaningless. the light touch-and-go mentions of queerness go from feeling deft to feeling incomplete as a theme. the random chapter near the end that is suddenly a new POV character was bizarre to me personally.
(inb4 this paragraph, Yes I'm A Cancer) before i came out as a lesbian i always had a extreme sensitivity to conflict and endings of friendships with the women in my life. a certain friendship of mine derailed pretty harshly and unexpectedly a few years ago and i wept at bars and went on about it until my other friends had to very nicely tell me it was time to move on. ever since that, it's been really hard not to brace for impact when my friends get into relationships, get pregnant, move, etc - even now that i am out of the closet, partnered happily, etc. i feel like i'm often waiting for the other shoe to drop. its awful!! i love my friends so deeply and i full on reject a culture where the ~prize is ur romantic partner and that being close with your friends is a girlhood thing to shed out of . i think this is a layer of the alienation many queer women feel. ALL OF THIS TO SAY ... obviously this resonated and was emotional for me
however, the tightness of it struggles in the last 50 pages or so. the references feel less like carving out a space in time and more meaningless. the light touch-and-go mentions of queerness go from feeling deft to feeling incomplete as a theme. the random chapter near the end that is suddenly a new POV character was bizarre to me personally.
March 11, 2026
“There are stories where a shadowy spectre from the past arrives on a young couple’s doorstep, dredging up secrets that have been long buried. Things do not usually go well for the young couple in these stories. They do not usually go well for the spectre either.” From these excellent first sentences, Sarvat Hasin’s shining new novel Strange Girls never ceases at being a twisting delight, propelled by two disconcertingly vivid character portraits — you KNOW these people, you surely must — and an astute eye for blending the unexpected with the inevitable. Ava is nervous to be reunited with her former best friend Aliya for a mutual friend’s hen party, skirting around the unspoken distance between them; Aliya, years previously, is lonely and unsure of herself when she meets Ava at university, and the two become so close they are like sisters, or like one person in two bodies. Through present Ava’s first person and past Aliya’s third person perspectives, the long and complicated history of their friendship is exhumed, and the possibility of resurrecting it dances on the periphery. I so admire Hasin’s restraint, in knowing how much to keep from us, and when to reveal it. It makes a small-scale drama unfold with a great but finely tuned magnitude. I love Aliya, who wants so much to make everyone happy, so full of admiration yet so unable to see herself as admirable; and I love Ava, who is cynical and cold but so real, so right-on, so sharp and hilariously deadpan. Her brutal reflections on how the single adult is sidelined were endlessly wry and resonant and reading them in someone else’s voice was, if nothing else, just so comforting. Yes it’s a book about intertwined friendships, how they curdle, how imbalanced expectations and desires can corrupt love and care, and it is a book about and how scary it is to be honest about the things we want and the things we fear. But it is also a book about making art: the costs and difficulty of doing it, and what it means to both the ones who create and the ones who witness. I loved it — out tomorrow in the UK, thanks to brilliant Sarvat for the proof!
March 15, 2026
devoured in a weekend, gave me chest pains on the tube
April 22, 2026
Oh the perils of a co-dependent female friendship! Gotta love it!
Strange Girls was really relatable because I do feel as if I put so much of me into my friendships. And a lot of the imagery of university and the girls living together made me so nostalgic. I also liked how the story switched from first-person present day pov for Ava and third-person past pov for Aliya. This change in perspective with every chapter added a lot of depth to the story and made the concept of girlhood more original (I read a lot of books like this and switching it up helps).
However, with all of the information we got about the friendship and Ava and Aliya as people, flawed people nonetheless, I’m still team Aliya. I’ve met a lot of Avas in my life, so although I understand her circumstances, her idea of friendship isn’t super appealing to me. Everything had to be on Ava’s time and if not, she withdrew. Maybe I am like Aliya. I guess it doesn’t really matter.
I liked this book but didn’t LOVE it. I think I wanted more from it besides the girls expecting different things from each other. I did like how it painted the friendship almost like a romantic relationship, bordering on obsession. Those friendships can be the hardest on the soul.
Or maybe my feelings about this are kind of skewed because I also have a former best friend who I don’t talk to anymore and nothing big really happened. We just no longer had things in common and drifted apart. And also people used to associate us with each other to the point where it was hard to be your own person. So I kind of felt called out by a lot of this book because I remember that co-dependency and what life was like when I longed for it.
Strange Girls was really relatable because I do feel as if I put so much of me into my friendships. And a lot of the imagery of university and the girls living together made me so nostalgic. I also liked how the story switched from first-person present day pov for Ava and third-person past pov for Aliya. This change in perspective with every chapter added a lot of depth to the story and made the concept of girlhood more original (I read a lot of books like this and switching it up helps).
However, with all of the information we got about the friendship and Ava and Aliya as people, flawed people nonetheless, I’m still team Aliya. I’ve met a lot of Avas in my life, so although I understand her circumstances, her idea of friendship isn’t super appealing to me. Everything had to be on Ava’s time and if not, she withdrew. Maybe I am like Aliya. I guess it doesn’t really matter.
I liked this book but didn’t LOVE it. I think I wanted more from it besides the girls expecting different things from each other. I did like how it painted the friendship almost like a romantic relationship, bordering on obsession. Those friendships can be the hardest on the soul.
Or maybe my feelings about this are kind of skewed because I also have a former best friend who I don’t talk to anymore and nothing big really happened. We just no longer had things in common and drifted apart. And also people used to associate us with each other to the point where it was hard to be your own person. So I kind of felt called out by a lot of this book because I remember that co-dependency and what life was like when I longed for it.
April 12, 2026
If you like yearning, complex female friendships, and queer undertones… have I got a book for you!
This is a dual timeline novel, with the past told from the perspective of a college aged, Aliya, and the present from the perspective of 40-year old, Ava. The two women spent the years of their time at a rural English university, joined at the hip. They met in an online forum for aspiring writers. What started as a creative relationship, sharing stories back and forth for workshopping, turned into the kind of friendship that changed their lives forever. The more time the two spent together, the harder it was to know where Aliya ended and Ava began. Their push and pull, silent yearning, and closeness was something that filled any room the two of them were in together.
Flash forward to present day, and the two hardly even speak anymore. Both physical distance and the drift that comes with time has left the women with just the memory of their friendship remaining. It’s not until the nuptials of a mutual friend, that Ava is back in London and coming face to face with Aliya and the pain of the rift between them.
I need to articulate just how heart wrenchingly relatable this book is. The blurred lines between platonic closeness vs romantic feelings of best friends is something I think many women can relate to, especially when coming-of-age, questioning their own sexuality and/or struggling with cultural expectations of family. The yearning and growing pains in this story are incredibly palpable. I feel that it leaves you with a similar ache of wanting more that the two characters wrestle with throughout the entire book. It’s a brilliant way to engage the reader with the emotional struggles of both Ava and Aliya, in my opinion.
This is a dual timeline novel, with the past told from the perspective of a college aged, Aliya, and the present from the perspective of 40-year old, Ava. The two women spent the years of their time at a rural English university, joined at the hip. They met in an online forum for aspiring writers. What started as a creative relationship, sharing stories back and forth for workshopping, turned into the kind of friendship that changed their lives forever. The more time the two spent together, the harder it was to know where Aliya ended and Ava began. Their push and pull, silent yearning, and closeness was something that filled any room the two of them were in together.
Flash forward to present day, and the two hardly even speak anymore. Both physical distance and the drift that comes with time has left the women with just the memory of their friendship remaining. It’s not until the nuptials of a mutual friend, that Ava is back in London and coming face to face with Aliya and the pain of the rift between them.
I need to articulate just how heart wrenchingly relatable this book is. The blurred lines between platonic closeness vs romantic feelings of best friends is something I think many women can relate to, especially when coming-of-age, questioning their own sexuality and/or struggling with cultural expectations of family. The yearning and growing pains in this story are incredibly palpable. I feel that it leaves you with a similar ache of wanting more that the two characters wrestle with throughout the entire book. It’s a brilliant way to engage the reader with the emotional struggles of both Ava and Aliya, in my opinion.
April 29, 2026
300 pages of gay yearning is an easy 5 stars for me. This book left me with a sticky melancholy feeling; this is def for the girls who can’t come out or wish their coming out had been different < / 3
March 13, 2026
Some friendships feel like a fever dream while you’re inside them. Strange Girls is about one of those.
Ava and Aliya meet at university in England and immediately fall into the kind of intense, all-consuming friendship that tends to happen when you’re young, slightly lost, and trying to figure out who you are. They bond over writing, books, ambition, and the strange thrill of finding someone who seems to understand your brain perfectly.
The novel moves between timelines: Ava narrates their awkward reunion years later, while Aliya’s chapters take us back to the beginning - when the friendship was still electric and full of possibility. I loved this structural choice. It lets you sit in the uncomfortable present while slowly uncovering how things unraveled in the past.
What really worked for me here was the prose. The writing is smooth, perceptive, and incredibly good at capturing the emotional chaos of female friendships in your late teens and early twenties. That time in life when a friend can feel like your entire universe - when you’re rooting for them with your whole heart while also quietly competing with them in ways you don’t even fully understand.
Both Ava and Aliya are messy, fascinating people. You don’t necessarily like them in a traditional sense, but they’re compelling enough that it feels almost intrusive to be inside their heads. The dynamic between them - admiration, envy, loyalty, resentment - feels painfully real. It also nails something very true about creative friendships: how easy it is for admiration to blur into rivalry when two people want the same things.
Female friendships can be foundational in ways we only understand much later. Even when they end badly, they shape who we become.
My only real issue was the ending. The book intentionally leaves things open-ended, and I understand why - friendships don’t always resolve neatly. But after spending so much time inside this relationship, I personally wanted just a little more closure. The ambiguity felt purposeful, but it still left me slightly unsatisfied.
Still, this is a beautifully written, thoughtful novel about friendship in its most intense form — not the idealized version, but the real one: messy, consuming, sometimes toxic, and impossible to fully forget.
If you liked My Brilliant Friend and enjoy character-driven literary fiction about complicated female friendships, this one will probably work for you.
Ava and Aliya meet at university in England and immediately fall into the kind of intense, all-consuming friendship that tends to happen when you’re young, slightly lost, and trying to figure out who you are. They bond over writing, books, ambition, and the strange thrill of finding someone who seems to understand your brain perfectly.
The novel moves between timelines: Ava narrates their awkward reunion years later, while Aliya’s chapters take us back to the beginning - when the friendship was still electric and full of possibility. I loved this structural choice. It lets you sit in the uncomfortable present while slowly uncovering how things unraveled in the past.
What really worked for me here was the prose. The writing is smooth, perceptive, and incredibly good at capturing the emotional chaos of female friendships in your late teens and early twenties. That time in life when a friend can feel like your entire universe - when you’re rooting for them with your whole heart while also quietly competing with them in ways you don’t even fully understand.
Both Ava and Aliya are messy, fascinating people. You don’t necessarily like them in a traditional sense, but they’re compelling enough that it feels almost intrusive to be inside their heads. The dynamic between them - admiration, envy, loyalty, resentment - feels painfully real. It also nails something very true about creative friendships: how easy it is for admiration to blur into rivalry when two people want the same things.
Female friendships can be foundational in ways we only understand much later. Even when they end badly, they shape who we become.
My only real issue was the ending. The book intentionally leaves things open-ended, and I understand why - friendships don’t always resolve neatly. But after spending so much time inside this relationship, I personally wanted just a little more closure. The ambiguity felt purposeful, but it still left me slightly unsatisfied.
Still, this is a beautifully written, thoughtful novel about friendship in its most intense form — not the idealized version, but the real one: messy, consuming, sometimes toxic, and impossible to fully forget.
If you liked My Brilliant Friend and enjoy character-driven literary fiction about complicated female friendships, this one will probably work for you.
Read
April 18, 2026can’t wait to hear how Tinca feels about this
April 7, 2026
4.5/5 ⭐️
this book gave the same vibes as when you come home from work and figure out there’s been something on your face the whole day and nobody told you. humiliating, losing faith in humanity, shocked by the reality of it all.
i understand that may not sound enticing, but this was like breaking open my rib cage and looking into my heart. if beautiful world where are you was queer and had blunt black baby bangs, it would be strange girls.
the author was able to perfectly capture the homo-platonic relationship one must go through, the ups, downs, jealousy, confusion, etc. it has taken me multiple days to come up with this review because i just had to ruminate and journal and figure mySELF out. i loved it.
would recommend to:
⁃ owners of more than one pair of dr martens
⁃ if you currently have a lighter in your purse
⁃ survivors of whatever that one friendship was
ty to netgalley for early access!! (out now!!!)
this book gave the same vibes as when you come home from work and figure out there’s been something on your face the whole day and nobody told you. humiliating, losing faith in humanity, shocked by the reality of it all.
i understand that may not sound enticing, but this was like breaking open my rib cage and looking into my heart. if beautiful world where are you was queer and had blunt black baby bangs, it would be strange girls.
the author was able to perfectly capture the homo-platonic relationship one must go through, the ups, downs, jealousy, confusion, etc. it has taken me multiple days to come up with this review because i just had to ruminate and journal and figure mySELF out. i loved it.
would recommend to:
⁃ owners of more than one pair of dr martens
⁃ if you currently have a lighter in your purse
⁃ survivors of whatever that one friendship was
ty to netgalley for early access!! (out now!!!)
April 1, 2026
Strange Girls is a beautiful coming-of-age queer story about the loneliness of growing older, feeling split between multiple worlds, and the constant battle between figuring out what you want and the world's expectations for what you should want. In this story, we follow two distanced college friends, Aliya and Ava. Aliya is hosting Ava in town for the weekend as their mutual college friend is getting married. This weekend is hinged on these friends, who now live separate independent adult lives, coming back together to reinvigorate their once co-dependent friendship, are parse out what they meant to each other when they were young and inseparable college students. They met in college because of their mutual desire to become published authors, and a friendship blossomed from there.
In the present POV, we follow Ava, staying at Aliya's home with Aliya's seemingly boring husband, her regimented and heteronormative life, and a book deal.
In the past POV, we follow Aliya, an international student from Pakistan who comes to London and feels isolated, sheltered, and alone when she meets Ava, her more extroverted and daring best friend from Scotland. They bond over their love of literature, art, film, and exploration of what London has to offer two young, impressionable college students.
From both POVs, we quickly garner a tension of two people who were indelible in each other's lives, but never told the other about how deep their feelings actually were. We watch in the past as they grow into adulthood, learning about their desires, identities, queerness, and reflect on their complex family dynamics, while figuring out who they are also to each other. In the present, we watch their desire for each other and the life they once shared simmer below the question of whether this inexplicable connection they had was ever meant to last.
This book is lush with art and film and literature, a sharp and dreamy display of campus life in London through the eyes of two girls budding into adulthood. I'd highly recommend this to fans of Past Lives, or books like Normal People or Ordinary Love.
In the present POV, we follow Ava, staying at Aliya's home with Aliya's seemingly boring husband, her regimented and heteronormative life, and a book deal.
In the past POV, we follow Aliya, an international student from Pakistan who comes to London and feels isolated, sheltered, and alone when she meets Ava, her more extroverted and daring best friend from Scotland. They bond over their love of literature, art, film, and exploration of what London has to offer two young, impressionable college students.
From both POVs, we quickly garner a tension of two people who were indelible in each other's lives, but never told the other about how deep their feelings actually were. We watch in the past as they grow into adulthood, learning about their desires, identities, queerness, and reflect on their complex family dynamics, while figuring out who they are also to each other. In the present, we watch their desire for each other and the life they once shared simmer below the question of whether this inexplicable connection they had was ever meant to last.
This book is lush with art and film and literature, a sharp and dreamy display of campus life in London through the eyes of two girls budding into adulthood. I'd highly recommend this to fans of Past Lives, or books like Normal People or Ordinary Love.
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April 8, 2026Strange Girls is a story about ex-best friends whose lives were so intertwined with romantic desire and longing that functioned as the undercurrents of their relationship.
I really loved the first 100 pages of this or so, but my engagement with the story fizzled as the chapters began shifting timelines and povs. I still enjoyed the story, but I did hope that the claustrophobic atmosphere of the beginning would continue to constrict the characters as the narrative progressed.
I really loved the first 100 pages of this or so, but my engagement with the story fizzled as the chapters began shifting timelines and povs. I still enjoyed the story, but I did hope that the claustrophobic atmosphere of the beginning would continue to constrict the characters as the narrative progressed.
April 7, 2026
this book took me 2 and a half weeks to read so i truly don’t even remember what happened.
the story was alright i guess, but i was constantly distracted & by other, more interesting books, hence how long it took me to finish this.
it all felt derivative, especially the ‘oh haha this whole book was actually a story written by one of our main characters this whole time’. YAWN.
the story was alright i guess, but i was constantly distracted & by other, more interesting books, hence how long it took me to finish this.
it all felt derivative, especially the ‘oh haha this whole book was actually a story written by one of our main characters this whole time’. YAWN.
February 24, 2026
Thank you to dutton for the physical ARC of this one!
I am genuinely obsessed with this book. I could tell from pretty early on that this was something that would feel really personal and resonate with me. I truly cannot recommend this book enough to anyone but especially writers and those who understand the feeling of an all consuming friendship and friendship break ups. the characters in this were all so beautifully real I feel as though I have met them all personally, both in that the writing brought them to life in such a way but also in that these are so based around the classic dynamics of a (mostly queer) girl friend group that the archetypes of them fit my high school and college friends incredibly well. I think the ending left me with more questions than I would like but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The prose is stunning and it is full to the brim of such an almost nostalgic feeling that made it all the more enjoyable, though sligtly hurtful, to read.
I am genuinely obsessed with this book. I could tell from pretty early on that this was something that would feel really personal and resonate with me. I truly cannot recommend this book enough to anyone but especially writers and those who understand the feeling of an all consuming friendship and friendship break ups. the characters in this were all so beautifully real I feel as though I have met them all personally, both in that the writing brought them to life in such a way but also in that these are so based around the classic dynamics of a (mostly queer) girl friend group that the archetypes of them fit my high school and college friends incredibly well. I think the ending left me with more questions than I would like but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The prose is stunning and it is full to the brim of such an almost nostalgic feeling that made it all the more enjoyable, though sligtly hurtful, to read.
January 16, 2026
As a woman who’s about to turn 30, I read this story at a timely point in my life.
Strange Girls is a title that refers to Ava and Aliya, two girls who develop a close, almost co-dependent friendship during college. Their magnetic connection is instant and their interests so aligned that both often feel the other is able to read their mind. And yet, underneath this admiration and fondness for each other is unspoken jealousy, competition and feelings that border on romantic love.
We see the story told from Ava’s current POV and both Aliya’s current and past POV as we start to learn how their friendship disintegrated. What I found so realistic was that there was no huge, explosive, dramatic fight. Rather, it was a combination of time, cultural differences, growing older and miscommunication that led to their estrangement. I feel like every young woman who’s had a close female friendship can relate to this story in some manner. I know I certainly did, and in a way Ava and Aliya’s story healed some residual guilt I harbored for my role in the dissolution of a college friendship.
Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC!
Strange Girls is a title that refers to Ava and Aliya, two girls who develop a close, almost co-dependent friendship during college. Their magnetic connection is instant and their interests so aligned that both often feel the other is able to read their mind. And yet, underneath this admiration and fondness for each other is unspoken jealousy, competition and feelings that border on romantic love.
We see the story told from Ava’s current POV and both Aliya’s current and past POV as we start to learn how their friendship disintegrated. What I found so realistic was that there was no huge, explosive, dramatic fight. Rather, it was a combination of time, cultural differences, growing older and miscommunication that led to their estrangement. I feel like every young woman who’s had a close female friendship can relate to this story in some manner. I know I certainly did, and in a way Ava and Aliya’s story healed some residual guilt I harbored for my role in the dissolution of a college friendship.
Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC!
December 2, 2025
I started off thinking I would love this and ended so frustrated. This should’ve been right up my alley — I love (ex) best friends with homoerotic tension and unlikeable characters — but I got a little bored waiting for something explicitly gay to happen in the college timeline. And then that timeline ends with a moment of hope that feels unearned because we already know how badly things will play out in the present day timeline. Disappointing! I love the cover though.
March 10, 2026
This was a bit too real for me.
It was a “been there done that” situation and honestly I felt both the heartbreak and trauma of everything that happened.
Still a beautiful read though.
It was a “been there done that” situation and honestly I felt both the heartbreak and trauma of everything that happened.
Still a beautiful read though.
March 23, 2026
Hasin structures Strange Girls to examine the evolving relationship between her two characters. The dual timelines, with Ava narrating the present and Aliya covering the past (largely so), bring forth a more reliable story. A fuller picture of the two women’s relationship and their perspective at the time, and viewed in retrospect, slowly pieces together a fuller account for the reader.
The book opens with Ava visiting Aliya’s residence in London, with the Now timeline spanning a weekend celebrating at their university flatmate’s hen party. This compact timeline pairs well with the Then, in which we gain insight into their initial encounter at university with dreams to be published authors of fiction, growing friendship as women who explore their sexuality and test adulthood, and intensifying a yoking relationship that blurs the boundaries of where one person ends and the other begins. These pairings, along with a nostalgic Then and relationally strained Now, are notable strengths in Strange Girls.
In many ways, Hasin’s novel reminds me of Wambugu’s Lonely Crowds. In both stories, the two female characters come-of-adulthood, navigate the creative arts space, and face a breaking point in their relationship because they don’t understand how to allow their intimate dynamic to transform as they grow. Furthermore, one woman chooses a traditional route by marrying for stability and garners success in her work, while the other rejects stifling norms and struggles to attain her goals. I rate Strange Girls 3 stars for the plot’s familiarity.
The book opens with Ava visiting Aliya’s residence in London, with the Now timeline spanning a weekend celebrating at their university flatmate’s hen party. This compact timeline pairs well with the Then, in which we gain insight into their initial encounter at university with dreams to be published authors of fiction, growing friendship as women who explore their sexuality and test adulthood, and intensifying a yoking relationship that blurs the boundaries of where one person ends and the other begins. These pairings, along with a nostalgic Then and relationally strained Now, are notable strengths in Strange Girls.
In many ways, Hasin’s novel reminds me of Wambugu’s Lonely Crowds. In both stories, the two female characters come-of-adulthood, navigate the creative arts space, and face a breaking point in their relationship because they don’t understand how to allow their intimate dynamic to transform as they grow. Furthermore, one woman chooses a traditional route by marrying for stability and garners success in her work, while the other rejects stifling norms and struggles to attain her goals. I rate Strange Girls 3 stars for the plot’s familiarity.
March 29, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the eARC in exchange for an honest review of Strange Girls by Sarvat Hasin. Admittedly, I was not immediately drawn to this book. There is a dual narrative about two friends, Aliya and Ava. Ava's POV is in first person and in the present, while Aliya's is third person and ten years in the past. They go to an unnamed university in London. Aliya is Pakistani, and Ava is American. Both are writers, and they connect through cinema, books, and letters. I was initially drawn to Ava's perspective because it's been ten years since the two of them last spoke, and she has to stay with Aliya while they attend a friend's wedding. Ultimately, the two of them clashed mostly because of cultural differences, and they are at different points in their lives.
When I heard about the plot of this book, I was all in. As someone in my early-30s, I can understand what it's like to fall out of touch with friends from your college days. A lot of times it's nothing truly dramatic; it's just the way life happens. Aliya and Ava have an unhealthy obsession with each other in a way that a lot of all-consuming friendships can feel. It's fascinating how you think that you cannot live without some people in your life, and a decade later, you remember you haven't spoken.
I am giving this a high 3-star, upgraded to 4.
When I heard about the plot of this book, I was all in. As someone in my early-30s, I can understand what it's like to fall out of touch with friends from your college days. A lot of times it's nothing truly dramatic; it's just the way life happens. Aliya and Ava have an unhealthy obsession with each other in a way that a lot of all-consuming friendships can feel. It's fascinating how you think that you cannot live without some people in your life, and a decade later, you remember you haven't spoken.
I am giving this a high 3-star, upgraded to 4.
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