"What kind of person doesn't know whether her father was a king or a monster?" Fifteen year old Laila, displaced from the Middle East, had always thought of her father as a king as the family lived like royalty. But Laila discovers that her father was considered a tyrant, at least by the standards of teenage Washington D. C. Laila feels guilty that her life of privilege was predicated on her father's cruelty. Laila's mother does not, however, share her concerns and is in the midst of engineering a power play to recoup her husband's power and install her brother as ruler. Was her uncle really responsible for her father's death? Can Laila fit into her new American ID? Should she? Can she impact her mother's plans? Again Should she? This is an impassioned, heartfelt depiction of how family members are impacted by the decisions, actions, and ideologies of politically motivated icons and the political instability and unpredictability of the Middle East.
Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2016-17
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