The Marriage Clock: A Novel

The Marriage Clock: A Novel

by Zara Raheem

Narrated by Ariana Delawari

Unabridged — 8 hours, 33 minutes

The Marriage Clock: A Novel

The Marriage Clock: A Novel

by Zara Raheem

Narrated by Ariana Delawari

Unabridged — 8 hours, 33 minutes

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Overview

Perfect for fans of Sonali Dev and Soniah Kamal.* A young woman must find herself a husband in three months...otherwise, her parents will matchmake one for her!

To Leila Abid's traditional Indian parents, finding a husband is as easy as match, meet, marry.** Yes, she wants to marry, but after 26 years of singledom, even Leila is starting to get nervous. And to make matters worse, her parents are panicking, the neighbors are talking, and she's wondering, are her expectations just too high?

But for Leila, a marriage of arrangement clashes with her lifelong dreams of a Bollywood romance, where real love happens before marriage, not the other way around. And after 26 years of singledom, even Leila is getting nervous. So she decides it's time to stop dreaming and start dating.

It's an impossible mission of satisfying her parents' expectations, while also fulfilling her own western ideals of love. But after a series of speed dates, blind dates, online dates and even ambush dates, the sparks just don't fly! Now, with the marriage clock ticking, and her 3-month deadline looming in the horizon, Leila must face the consequences of what might happen if she doesn't find “the one...”


Editorial Reviews

AUGUST 2019 - AudioFile

In this fresh, captivating audiobook, narrator Ariana Delawari gives a bright voice to 26-year-old Leila Abid, an American-born Indian Muslim who has been given three months to find a husband—or her parents will find one for her. As naïve Leila wades through months of dreadful dates, well-meaning aunties, and an overbearing matriarch, Delawari draws in listeners with her distinctive accents and simple characterizations. She gracefully captures Leila's turmoil as she struggles to find the delicate balance between following cultural expectations and choosing her own desires. With smooth enunciation and a steady voice, Delawari skillfully sets an even pace and leaves listeners eager to discover whom Leila will choose in the end. E.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

An intimate and entertaining glimpse into the life of a young Muslim American woman whose family wants her married. Now! You’ll want to read this in one sitting.” — Susan Elizabeth Phillips, New York Times bestselling author

“Please cancel your weekend plans, because once you dive into The Marriage Clock, it’ll be impossible to tear yourself away. This romantic and insightful book introduces us to Leila Abid, who’s torn between her traditional parents trying to arrange her marriage and her own desire for agency.” — Cosmopolitan

The Marriage Clock is a warm, funny debut novel about love, how we find it, and how we can keep it.” — Popsugar

“Zara Raheem’s The Marriage Clock, however, takes a unique and charming look at the beliefs we hold in regard to love and marriage. And that’s precisely why readers should be adding this novel to their August TBR piles.” — Culturess

“Raheem’s debut uses chick-lit tropes to smartly skewer modern ways of dating and to bring humor to more traditional South Asian ones.” — Booklist

“So fresh and charming and fun! I adored being in Leila’s world, from her girls’ nights with her friends to her conversations with her loving, pressuring parents to her many first dates. What a joy to read.” — Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth

“Zara Raheem’s The Marriage Clock is a unique, beautiful story about a woman coming to accept herself – and the notion that maybe marriage isn’t everything.” — All About Romance

“Raheem dedicates the book to every woman who has ever been told she wasn’t enough. In the face of ubiquitous cultural traditions that measure a woman’s worth by her marriageability, Leila’s journey shows us that the true measure of a woman’s worth is that she values herself.” — BookTrib

BookTrib

Raheem dedicates the book to every woman who has ever been told she wasn’t enough. In the face of ubiquitous cultural traditions that measure a woman’s worth by her marriageability, Leila’s journey shows us that the true measure of a woman’s worth is that she values herself.

Julia Phillips

So fresh and charming and fun! I adored being in Leila’s world, from her girls’ nights with her friends to her conversations with her loving, pressuring parents to her many first dates. What a joy to read.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

An intimate and entertaining glimpse into the life of a young Muslim American woman whose family wants her married. Now! You’ll want to read this in one sitting.

Popsugar

The Marriage Clock is a warm, funny debut novel about love, how we find it, and how we can keep it.

Cosmopolitan

Please cancel your weekend plans, because once you dive into The Marriage Clock, it’ll be impossible to tear yourself away. This romantic and insightful book introduces us to Leila Abid, who’s torn between her traditional parents trying to arrange her marriage and her own desire for agency.

All About Romance

Zara Raheem’s The Marriage Clock is a unique, beautiful story about a woman coming to accept herself – and the notion that maybe marriage isn’t everything.

Culturess

Zara Raheem’s The Marriage Clock, however, takes a unique and charming look at the beliefs we hold in regard to love and marriage. And that’s precisely why readers should be adding this novel to their August TBR piles.

Booklist

Raheem’s debut uses chick-lit tropes to smartly skewer modern ways of dating and to bring humor to more traditional South Asian ones.

Booklist

Raheem’s debut uses chick-lit tropes to smartly skewer modern ways of dating and to bring humor to more traditional South Asian ones.

Cosmopolitan

Please cancel your weekend plans, because once you dive into The Marriage Clock, it’ll be impossible to tear yourself away. This romantic and insightful book introduces us to Leila Abid, who’s torn between her traditional parents trying to arrange her marriage and her own desire for agency.

AUGUST 2019 - AudioFile

In this fresh, captivating audiobook, narrator Ariana Delawari gives a bright voice to 26-year-old Leila Abid, an American-born Indian Muslim who has been given three months to find a husband—or her parents will find one for her. As naïve Leila wades through months of dreadful dates, well-meaning aunties, and an overbearing matriarch, Delawari draws in listeners with her distinctive accents and simple characterizations. She gracefully captures Leila's turmoil as she struggles to find the delicate balance between following cultural expectations and choosing her own desires. With smooth enunciation and a steady voice, Delawari skillfully sets an even pace and leaves listeners eager to discover whom Leila will choose in the end. E.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2019-04-28
A South Asian Muslim woman who grew up in Los Angeles has three months to find a husband before her parents plan to arrange a marriage for her.

Leila Abid is the American-born daughter of Indian parents who have been happily married for almost 30 years. At 26, nondrinking Leila has been enjoying her quiet routine—work, regular Tuesday night hangouts with her friends—and everything in her life has unfolded nicely. Even if she is still living with her parents. But when her parents announce that they will arrange her marriage because of her advanced age, she negotiates a three-month reprieve while she looks for a suitable Muslim man to marry who makes both her and her parents happy. She is not a traditional South Asian Muslim, and her American independence is not something she's willing to compromise on despite her interest in a grand Bollywood-esque love story, as she continually tells herself, her family, and her friends. Leila's thought processes as she grapples with who she is, who her parents are, and what it means to be a Muslim woman jostle for narrative attention in between a series of awkward and uncomfortable dates. The first half of the book is choppy and repetitive while Leila is in Los Angeles, but when she travels to India with her mother for a cousin's wedding, the story settles into itself and the lush heat, rich food, and sense of community that surrounds the three-day nuptials. Unfortunately, Leila's final decision packs little punch.

Readers expecting a typical fairy-tale ending will be surprised.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940170324262
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 07/23/2019
Edition description: Unabridged
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