Ramadan in my book

So as the holy month of Ramadan has started I wanted to talk about the role the month plays in my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon", and the answer is... it doesn't.

I very deliberately skip over the month in my story actually and there's a few reasons for that. I don't want to go over all of them because I'm leery of spoilers but one is that it allowed me to start the story with the moonsighting for Eid-Ul-Fitr which ends the month of Ramadan and is one of the most festive times of the year for us as Muslims. I think it works really well as an introductory scene and introduction to the world as a Muslim society set in kind of a medieval time period and it's got a bit of a twist ending as well that I think works really well.

The other reason is that the month of Ramadan is such a unique time of the year, especially in Muslim Majority communities, that it really would put a stop to the plot and lead to an odd little gap in the story if I included it as it really does feel like the material world comes to a pause during the month. A lot of that unique feeling isn't present for us in non Muslim majority countries where regular life continues during the sacred month but it really is a special time of the year that I just decided to avoid.

Because of this the story of the book, of a young woman named Khadija defending her Muslim Matriarchy, had to be set in 11 months exactly. It was actually a very big challenge and took a fair bit of rewriting to make everything fit in the eleven months and that's I think one of the hidden bits of labour in the book that hopefully makes the story feel solid and real.

In any case, if any of this intrigues you, then I hope you pick it up from wherever books are sold, and if you're in the Greater Toronto Area, maybe I can get you a signed copy directly, you can just DM me for that. Hope you and yours have a blessed month whether you're Muslim or not.