Nishat is frustrated because Flávia does not come from a Desi background, and her using henna design and art for her business appropriates Nishat’s history and culture. However, Flávia is biracial Afrolatinx (Brazilian) and does not have Desi roots. She then is assigned a school project where she starts her own henna business only to find that Flávia, a friend from her childhood who she has a crush on, has also started a henna business. This is her story of entering a new romance, after having come out to her parents and being the victim of bullying at school. The Henna Wars’s protagonist is Nishat, a Bengali, Muslim lesbian teenage girl who lives in Dublin, Ireland. After I was done reading, I sat on the couch filled with warm, fuzzy feelings, but also feeling empowered to get this book in the hands of younger readers everywhere. It is a young adult contemporary novel featuring an F/F romance, and also has its roots firmly planted in destroying homophobia, racism, bullying, and cultural appropriation. When CW told me that we were going to have Adiba Jaigirdar visiting the Pond, I was overjoyed because I am just so… moved by The Henna Wars. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled-but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life.įlávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family.

When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants-as long as she isn’t herself.

The henna wars author