It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a student visa must be in want of an Australian wife. Twenty-eight-year old Esma has a masters in human resource management, never orders just a salad, is well-travelled, has excellent taste in music, watches the ABC news, has the Guardian saved as an app on her iPhone, knows all the two-letter words in Scrabble and can tell the difference between a Ford and a Holden. Armed with a check-list, she's on the hunt for Mr Right, who must be a Muslim. Tired of failed matchmaking, online dating sites and people calling her 'old fashioned', Esma forms a 'No Sex in the City' club with her friends Lisa, Ruby and Nirvana. Esma's quest for The One was never going to be easy but when family, friends and meddling employers are thrown into the equation, her path to true love suddenly takes a great big detour.
Author
Randa Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney in 1979. She is a Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She grew up in Melbourne and attended a Catholic primary school and Islamic secondary college where she obtained an International Baccaularetate. She studied Arts/Law at Melbourne University during which time she was the Media Liaison Officer at the Islamic council of Victoria, a role which afforded her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about their representation of Muslims and Islam. During university and her role at the ICV, Randa was a passionate human rights advocate and stood in the 1996 federal election as a member of the Unity Party-Say No To Hanson. Randa has also been deeply interested in inter-faith dialogue and has been a member of various inter-faith networks. She also volunteered with different human rights and migrant resource organisations including the Australian Arabic council, the Victorian migrant resource centre, Islamic women’s welfare council, Palestine human rights campaign, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, to name a few. Randa has used her writing as a medium for expressing her views about the occupation of Palestine. Her articles about Palestine, Australian Muslims and the misunderstood status of women in Islam have been published in the Australian, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Canberra Times, New Matilda, Le Monde (France). Randa is frequently sought for comment by the media on issues pertaining to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. She has appeared on SBS’s Insight, ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club, ABC’s Q & A, Channel 7’s Sunrise and Channel 10’s 9am. Randa is also a regular guest at schools around Australia addressing students about her books and the social justice issues they raise. Randa has also been a guest at Sweden’s Gothenburg and Litterlund book festivals (2007 and 2008) and Kuala Lumpur’s Book festival (2008). She has also toured in Brunei and the UK. Randa lives in Sydney with her husband and their two children. She works as a litigation lawyer.
