Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin

A sparkling second-chance romance inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion...

Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she’s still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother’s unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it’s a far cry from realizing her start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada’s best friend Haleema is determined to pry her from her shell…and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference held downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema’s fiancé, Zayn. And did Haleema mention Zayn’s brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn’t know is that Nada and Baz have a past—some of it good, some of it bad and all of it secret.  At the conference, that past all comes hurtling at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can Nada truly say goodbye to once was or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

Review

"Much Ado About Nada is the contemporary take on Persuasion that I've been waiting for. I've been a huge fan of Uzma Jalaluddin's since her debut novel, but this one has become my favorite. Nada is feisty, complicated, and wholly relatable, and watching her love story with Baz unfold gave me butterflies at times and squeezed my heart tight at others. As ever, Jalaluddin expertly balances explorations of family, faith, and love in a smart and authentic way. I am such a fan."—Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Happy Place

“Persuasion retellings, like all second-chance romances, have to find a balance between a breakup serious enough to stick for years and a resolution that lets he reader trust those issues have been overcome. It’s hard for me to think of a time I’ve seen it done this elegantly; when the reveal came I actually gasped aloud. It is, in a word, brilliant.”—The New York Times Book Review

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (June 13, 2023)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593336380

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593336380

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.15 x 0.91 x 7.97 inches