IN THE COUNTRY I LOVE is a contemporary YA novel that explores the complexities of friendship, grief, and family through the emotional story of two best friends—Yassir and Khaled—before, during, and after a crime that will change their lives and reveal dark truths about their families. Told through multiple POVs, including an ominous recurring narrator that will appeal to fans of Sabaa Tahir’s ALL MY RAGE and Markus Zusak’s THE BOOK THIEF, this heartrending, authentic exploration of the Shia Muslim experience in the U.S. seamlessly combines classic YA themes of identity, coming-of-age, and relationships with timely social themes of racism, Islamophobia, and justice. Yassir Al-Azzawi is used to being the disappointment in his family. As a seventeen-year-old single dad and a soon-to-be high school drop-out, his lapsed Shia faith is just another thing convincing his parents he's a failure. One more mistake, and they'll send him back to their homeland, a war-torn Iraq. Khaled Al-Hakim is perfect on paper: devout in his faith, a straight-A student, and captain of the debate team. But beneath the surface, Khaled is no saint either and his parents can never know. Which is why Khaled and Yassir must keep their friendship a secret—especially after their families severed ties years ago. When the boys are stopped by the police during a sacred Shia observance, their friendship is exposed, and Khaled’s pristine image is shattered. Now it's Khaled who finds himself sent to Iraq for two weeks to amend his behavior while Yassir is left to salvage what’s left of his life without his best friend. But on the same night Khaled returns home from Iraq, a series of Islamophobic hate crimes occur across the United States and one of the boys is left beaten in the streets. As the boys search for someone to blame, family secrets from both sides come to light, and neither Yassir nor Khaled are prepared to learn the truths that taint their family names.