WHERE NO SHADOW STAYS

Yasmina Mansour’s life fractures the moment she comes home to her small California town of Ward after a brief trip to Egypt.

A violent entity attempts to kill her by possessing anyone Egyptian American Mina is alone with. To protect her friends and family, Mina cuts them off without explanation, retreating as she searches for a solution. The only person who seems to understand what she’s facing is Jesse Talbot, her reclusive classmate and neighbor, who presents white. He reveals that he carries a similar burden. As Mina and Jesse investigate, they discover that the intergenerational curse Mina is living with is tied to her maternal line. Mina struggles under the weight of fear and feelings of cultural dislocation, and as her late mother’s past rises to meet her, she must make an impossible choice between two heartbreaking outcomes. In her YA debut, Hashem delivers an engaging, cohesive, genre-blending novel, executing the concept of a monster that weaponizes isolation with clarity and mounting suspense and seamlessly incorporating Egyptian Arabic and other culturally rooted details. Mina and Jesse’s developing relationship is grounded in mutual vulnerability, bringing a warmth and romantic intimacy that effectively strikes an equilibrium with the horror elements. Mina’s struggle to belong, to understand her family’s past, and to reconcile the parts of herself shaped by two worlds gives the novel a lingering emotional depth.

A gripping, atmospheric blend of supernatural terror and the aching work of reclaiming agency.