Much Ado About Nada

A sparkling second-chance romance inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion...

Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she's still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother's unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it's a far cry from realizing her start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada's best friend Haleema is determined to pry her from her shell...and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference held downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema's fiancé, Zayn. And did Haleema mention Zayn's brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn't know is that Nada and Baz have a past--some of it good, some of it bad and all of it secret. At the conference, that past all comes hurtling at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can Nada truly say goodbye to once was or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 06/13/2023
Pages: 320
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780593336380


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 03/20/2023
Library Journal 05/01/2023 pg. 79
Booklist 05/15/2023 pg. 24
BookPage 06/01/2023

About the Author
Uzma Jalaluddin is the bestselling author of Ayesha at Last and Hana Khan Carries On, both of which have been optioned for film, the latter by Mindy Kaling. A high school English teacher, Jalaluddin is also a contributor to the Toronto Star and The Atlantic. She lives near Toronto with her family.