Moishe is an 18-year-old Hasidic Jew from London. He dreams of a lifetime of study, of marrying and being a good father and provider. But there’s also a part of him that has feelings he’s fought to ignore, feelings he doesn’t quite understand.
Mo (short for Muhammad) is a young Muslim man living in Manchester with his family. He is smart, devout, and has been struggling with depression. He, too, can’t seem to reconcile the feelings he has with the commandments and customs of his religion.
The two young men meet on a plane to Jerusalem, where Moishe plans to spend the summer studying and Mo will be visiting his grandmother, in the hopes a change of scenery might help with his depression. Another chance encounter encourages their friendship despite their differences.
“Moishe, the greatest prophet in Judaism, and Muhammad the greatest prophet in Islam are our namesakes. Looking out the window, I wonder what my neighbors would think about this scandalous meeting of two prophets.”
The more time they spend with one another, the more their feelings deepen and yet still worry and confuse them. They talk about everything—their religions, their families, the political climate toward both Muslims and Jews—except how they feel.
A short vacation helps both crystallize and confuse things further. Ultimately, both have to decide whether they can reconcile their hearts with their family and their religion, or whether they should follow the path they’ve always been expected to.
I really enjoyed this emotional story. To find a book like A Meeting of Two Prophets, which confronts issues like homosexuality and depression against a backdrop of Judaism and Muslim customs is so rare, and even rarer is that Tasa never forces you to take a side or confront some of the more dramatic issues I expected to arise in a book like this.
This was a find, a sweet story I won’t soon forget. I loved this kind of representation and can’t wait to see what Tasa does next!
No comments:
Post a Comment