Unfortunately, this book left me wanting more.

Obviously, I can't speak for its Muslim or Egyptian representation. I do appreciate the stories the author is trying to tell, and I think the core of the book is interesting and good.

Personally, I found the book to be very chopped and rushed. There are so many scenes that were so quick, conversations that are supposed to be important but are only half a page long at best, too many times to count of characters avoiding certain topics in a conversation because they don't want to talk about/don't want to listen. This led to a lot of telling instead of showing. I think that at times, the book was trying to do too much, but it left some of the important things flat.

One example of a plot line that I found lacking is the dad. While Hannah and Zain's behavior was quite understandable in that regard, story wise we have a relationship that is central to the story and doesn't go anywhere for maybe 70% of it, even more. It felt like a shame because this could have had much more nuance and depth.

Even though this book didn't work for me so much, I'd be interested to see this author's future work.

Last but not least - the cover design is beautiful, kudos to the designer.

I related so strongly with Zain & Hannah, as I also had the experience of growing up in a different country & essentially being “stuck” between two different cultures. It was interesting to see how each sibling coped with their grief, & I felt like they were both realistic depictions. I have to be honest though, I did not like Zain in this book. I wish we got more of the mom’s POV. The back & forth with Zain & Hannah felt repetitive at times.

[3.5] That was a lot to take in! I thought the organization of the book/story was done excellently, especially in highlighting both siblings and allowing room for flashbacks to past memories between Egypt & the U.S.. Heartbreaking but I'm glad to see how these siblings bonded. Just struggled with the overwhelming presence of grief-generating events; I think some other subplots could have been developed a little more (like the protests or certain relationships).

Thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books for the ARC. Can't wait to see more from this author & publishing imprint!

It's been a very long time, since a book had made me sit on the edge of my seat, not because it was thrilling but because of how much it occupied my headspace while i was carrying out my everyday chores, a page turner which i kept looking forward to read for a short while.

Set in 2012, during the rule of Morsi in Egypt, this book follows the life of two siblings, Hannah and Zain, an Egyptian immigrant family in the US, trying to navigate their life after their mother's death, returning to Egypt for their mother's burial. They not only experience their grief of physically losing one parent but also emotionally losing the other because of their father's betrayal which changes the course of their path and purpose in their life. They grapple through an identity crisis, questioning their religious beliefs, trying to find a home since neither of them feels a sense of belonging in the place they call their motherland and the place they grew up, trying to understand the ideology of the religion and culture which shaped them amidst the backdrop of political revolution in Egypt.

I am not going to go into much detail since anything i might tell will either end up as a dissertation or a spoiler but if you are a pro-palestine and is interested in books which deals with
✨ feeling lost,
✨ grief of losing a mother,
✨ complex relationship dynamics,
✨ family secrets,
✨ worried about the current state of politics,
✨ MCs having a personal, religious and cultural identity crisis
✨ women's rights and humanity in general,
✨ egypt in 2012
then you will definitely love and enjoy this book.

This book is very well written for a debut novel and the author has put 9 years of her life to give us this amazing book and i am so glad that i was lucky enough to read it before its release. So thank you netgalley, bindery books and Deena Elgenaidi for the e-ARC.

I would give it a 4.5/5 ⭐ for now but if i keep on thinking about this book in the future, then I'll change it to a 5 ⭐.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the ARC.

In theory I thought I would really love this book because the description drew me in and I really appreciate a novel that can blend history and fact with fictional narratives, but I didn’t really enjoy the novel.

I think the author did very well in creating a fictional world within the context of real events, and I enjoyed learning about the political upheavals in Egypt in the early 2010s.

However, the pace of the novel felt too quick and I wished we had more time to meet and understand the characters before their grief changed everything. Hannah was definitely (to me) the more interesting character, but Zain I struggled to connect with, and I found parts of the novel repetitive.

I can see a lot of people enjoying this, and again, I enjoyed the blending of fact and fiction through the lives of two siblings.

Ultimately though the author’s style just didn’t gel with me and at points the plot felt very predictable and that things happened too quickly seemingly without any consequences or reflection

If an Egyptian cannot speak English x The Magnificent Ruins x The Family Recipe

A stunning debut novel about grief, rebuilding family relationships under the cover of the aftermath of political unrest (Arab Spring).

I love a story about 2nd generation kids trying to reconcile the old world and how to navigate yourself in a different country customs then your parents. Also how to be a good… insert religion in this case Muslim.

This is a gorgeously moving character study fulled with fully realized troubled characters making bad choices, but trying to learn to be better and find a new honesty with their respective relationships after suffering a profound loss.

Received an advanced reader copy from NetGalley
Publication Date: September 30, 2025

‘… but she was tired of them pretending to be good Muslim kids, lying even to each other.
They didn’t know one another, not really. And now with their mom gone, they had to build their own relationship outside of her.’

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for sending me a copy of an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I generally found this book to be insightful and quietly reflective - I think it really tackled the themes of grief, quarter life crises, and religious guilt in a very real and contemporary way, sometimes to the point where parts of the book read very 2025 as opposed to 2012/2013, when this book actually takes place. There's a lot of really good introspection on identity and one's place in the world woven into the dialogues and the reflections of the characters.

I did feel like the flow of the book got a bit lost starting from the middle towards the end of the book, such as the big time skips out of nowhere that were found especially in the latter half of the book. For example, I would have loved to see more scenes of Zain doing his investigative journalism while struggling with his alcoholism while visiting Egypt, or more detailed scenes of Hannah working and planning with the women's organization in Cairo.

Overall though, I think this would be a really good and relatable read for anyone in their 20s or 30s kind of feeling (understandably) generally helpless at the state of the world and also feeling lost on where they want their life to go next.

3.5/5 - I enjoyed this book, the writing was easy to read and the plot was interesting, gave some perspective that I don't think is easily available in other books. Parts felt a bit cheesy but overall I enjoyed reading it and went through it quickly.

Such a touching book! It explores so many themes, such as...

1. Various forms of grief (loss of a parent through death and/or estrangement, loss of oneself, etc.)

2. Religion in its many forms and interpretations through generations

3. The idea of the "perfect family" does not, in fact, exist

It's also about young adults letting go of what is expected of them, leading them to discover who they actually are, learning to forgive, and embracing their culture.

This was good, but it was rather bland, at points.

I'm white and grew up Catholic, so I don't really have some insight into the struggles of being Muslim and an American with Arab roots (Egyptian here, specifically). But the way ElGenaidi portrays the dissociation and dichotomy the siblings experience with their identities frequently throughout the novel had some interesting insights. It got repetitive after a while, but there is still a very strong core at the center of this novel.

Not gonna lie, I liked Hannah and her part of the story way more than Zain's. I get what the author was trying to do with him, but it was unbearable to be in his POV when he's cheating on his girlfriend with his boss, only to inevitably lose them both and his job when his self-destructiom hit its peak. Yeah, he got a little better in the end, but I still wasn't all that endeared to him. Hannah was the one who assimilated herself in a culture she barely understood and got into women's rights for Egygtians activism all on her own; her struggles and narrative were just so much more appealing than Zain's.

All in all, this was a solid debut, but I just didn't click enough with it to love it entirely.

Touching, eye-opening and honestly incredibly beautiful from beginning till end.

The story has a dual POV of brother and sister going through changes happening around them and inside them too. It shows the different versions of guilt, the hypocrisy of this world, how starved people can be for connection without even realizing it and how separated one can feel when it comes to religion.

Amazing storytelling!

Thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books for this ARC.

I enjoyed this book, and it's exploration of the grey area between a good Muslim and a bad Muslim, how family deals with grief, of the support of found community, and of realisations of parents are humans.

However I wish the exploration had been more in-depth: that the insecurities were not all that we saw of the characters for most of the book, so that the pretty great character arc felt quite rushed.

Also enjoyed how things came in a full circle - of sorts.

Some parts felt rushed, others not elaborated enough. However the themes explored and the fast paced made for a decent quick read for me - definitely no regrets reading this book.

Set in 2012 against a backdrop of political unrest in post-revolution Egypt, the novel follows American-born siblings Hannah and Zain who return to Cairo following the death of their mother, for the funeral, and once there are forced to confront family secrets, betrayals and the weight of cultural identity and expectations. The siblings react to their grief and sense of cultural dislocation in different ways as each has to come to terms with the family’s past and their own choices. The personal is set effectively against the political and the descriptions of life and culture in Egypt are particularly well portrayed, as is the culture clash between tradition, religion and American based freedom. The siblings’ struggles feel authentic and relatable, and the characterisation throughout the novel is nuanced. I found the book a really enjoyable read, one which moves forward at a good pace, and isn’t too predictable. However, overall it felt a fairly ordinary story, nothing especially insightful, and rather bland. Entertaining, and at times thought-provoking, and certainly competently written, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I thought the two main characters were well written and fleshed out, and I loved the themes the book explored. But the writing and the pacing left me wanting more. All the secondary characters fell flat and the way the book was structured introduced flashbacks in an awkward way. I think many people will enjoy and love this book, but because of the writing style it wasn't necessarily for me.

I read this book in one seating ,this is not normal and doesn't happen to me recently or is it that I haven't connected to a story like this for sometimes .
Let's get into it anyway this book was so human . The mess ,chaos ,losses and pains .The siblings we were following did not have it all figured out in fact they were a mess after their mom's death .No character in this book was flawless but I loved them a lot .I loved the journey and rooting for them I hope they prosper where they will be as the book is finished .Very few stories make me think of character's lives after the book ends . This book was magical I'm so happy I read it .If you loved as long as lemon trees grows like me you'll probably love this book .
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the e- arc the review and all thoughts are my own .

If you love books about siblings navigating grief together, about siblings bonding and finding themselves in a world that's cruel and unforgiving, this book is for you. It's a story exploring themes of grief, coming-of-age life issues, political situation and atmosphere in post-revolution Egypt. What I found the most interesting is the way the author focused on what it means to be Egyptian-American, the way she portrayed the culture, the social and religious differences. It's a very authentic novel that pulls your heart and your mind in and doesn't release it for way long after finishing reading.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would at first. I liked the exploration of grief and heart ache, how emotions will fester and rot in you if you don’t deal with them.

Then add the twists and turns of life and you have a great narrative about how we get through life and continue on with loving those around even after death.

I liked the tension and interplay between switching between Zain and Hannah then even getting some Yasmeen at the end. Really nice to contrast their lives and points of view.

I think Zain’s story could have had more build up, I felt like we missed his whole “training montage” we just got him deciding to not drink anymore and within six months he has his dream job, it just seemed a little too perfect for me.

Hannah’s progress on the other hand we really saw, we saw her struggle and find her footing and then she naturally progressed. I thought her storyline was really good.

Thank you for bindery books and NetGalley for the eARC of Dust Settles North!!

A easy read story of dual nationality siblings who are split between their their parents’ Egyptian values and their American lives. Everything comes to a head when their mother dies suddenly and they realise that they know nothing about their parents or Egypt.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC!

I finished this book last week and have had to sit with my thoughts for days before writing a review because it truly was just such a hard hitting book.

Dust Settles North is about Hannah and Zain, two siblings who are dealing with the recent loss of their mother. On top of that, they find out that their father isn't who they always thought he was. Hannah and Zain also struggle with feeling like they have to be the perfect Muslims, which is a big theme in the book and something the two of them try to come to terms with.

Main themes
I knew going into it that it was going to be difficult to read, and I'm sure it will be for anyone else who has dealt with the loss of a parent (or anyone else) in their life. The first 50-ish pages were roughhh (I cried), but they were so good, and the emotions felt so raw and real. There were so many quotes that just made me pause and go, "yeah, that's exactly how it feels" (especially during the funeral) because I've never read a book that puts it in a way that feels so relatable to me before.

Just know that if you’re dealing with grief… this is gonna be rough. So worth it, though.

The conversations about religion and different kinds of religious people felt well tackled. I can't speak much on the Muslim representation specifically as I'm not Muslim and do not have much experience with the religion and culture outside of a few family members. However, I will say that I loved the way Dust Settles North talked about the different generations of the family and their different views on how a person should show their religion, from a more strict older generation to a more lenient younger one. When it comes to younger Muslim characters in the book, there are both characters who break more than a few "rules", and then there are the ones who always go to Friday prayer, and both can just coexist and be friends which I enjoyed.

Dual POV
The book is written in dual POV, pretty much an equal split between Hannah and Zain, and both kept me hooked the entire time.

I loved Hannah’s POV from beginning to end! I loved her friendships and her storyline, and I loved seeing her process of getting involved in activism in Egypt while also acknowledging that she has a privilege of just being able to leave the country in case things get too much. Her struggle with religious guilt was also one of my favorite storylines of the entire book, and I loved seeing her trying to get more comfortable and find her place in her religion.

Zain was sooo complicated, and I love a complicated character but this man frustrated me so much at certain points that I was sitting here talking back to my book to get my frustrations out lmao 😭 The only reason he got that reaction was that I already loved him at that point though, so I was rooting for him the entire time even when he was frustrating, and his character growth was amazing to see.

The negatives?
I have very few negative things to say about this book! One thing is that the end of Zain's arc felt kind of rushed and I would've loved to see it more in depth. There's also a flaw of his that he does work on, and he does get better, but I would have loved to see him actually talk about it to someone so I could hear about it from his perspective instead of only hearing about it from Hannah’s POV.

At the end of the book, there are also a lot of POV switches all of a sudden which just felt kind of jarring like it was breaking up the pace that had been set throughout the rest of the book with the POV switches. It would be like a few paragraphs of one POV, then switch for a few paragraphs, and then back again within the same scene. It didn’t happen a lot, only toward the end, so I didn’t mind it too much.

Rating
I was initially between 4.5 and 5 stars because it was giving me the 5 star feeling from chapter 1, but I wasn’t sure if the slightly rushed character arc was enough to pull it down a little for me, and I just… don’t think it is.

I also haven’t been able to stop thinking about this wook ever since I finished it last week and I know it’s gonna be a new favorite of mine, so I had to give it 5 stars! So excited for release date so I can get my hands on a physical copy and read it again.

I am so grateful for NetGalley and Bindery Books for giving me the opportunity to indulge in this book early! I kept hearing about it through Jananie’s YouTube channel ThisStoryain’tover and I am enthralled with this book. I am stunned with how powerful the themes of family values were throughout this book. I haven’t read something so powerful in that regard. The tie in to politics happening in a place that the characters are intrinsically connected to but also feel shut out of added so many textural layers to the story. The dialogue was simple, but some many more messages blared through the words that the characters spoke. As someone who experienced the loss of a parent, the throes of grief were depicted accurately. Once the plot got going, I couldn’t put the book down! Ever reader of color should read this! I can’t wait until this book officially releases!