The formation and aftermath of a heady, all-consuming friendship is the center of Strange Girls, the U.S. debut from Pakistani British author Sarvat Hasin. Aliya leaves Pakistan, chasing the quintessential British university experience, but finds herself lonely and uncertain at her university in England. She joins a writing group and quickly tumbles into an intense closeness with Ava, who is from the U.S. Though their relationship burns hot and cold, their future seems "not just possible but inevitable." They plan to live together after college, become successful writers, and fend off the conventions of a normal, married existence. But familial obligations and the realities of adulthood intrude, and they break apart. Years later, they reunite during a mutual friend's bachelorette weekend and prod their bruised edges to see what remains after "a thousand little decisions that have made [them] unrecognizable to each other." Then Ava learns that Aliya has secured a book deal; she reads the manuscript and realizes the book is about their relationship in all its fractured, tender glory.
Hasin deftly captures the allure of this type of fierce friendship in two timelines, alternating between Aliya's point of view during college and Ava's in the present and capturing how someone can feel fully known by another person while simultaneously performing a version of themselves for them. In uncomplicated and enthralling prose, Strange Girls encapsulates the orbital resonance of two women who feel certain of who they are while still becoming who they will be, and the beauty and mess of what people ask of each other in their closest relationships. --Kristen Coates, editor and freelance reviewer