To Rukhsana’s horror, she spotted Irfan in line at the counter. Rukhsana made up with Ariana and they went to Starbucks where they shard a public kiss. Ariana’s mother said that she should be cautious of Rukhsana because Muslim families were not the same as white families.

Rukhsana went over to her house, but she heard her speaking with her mother in the backyard. Rukhsana decided to tell her parents the truth, but when she got home her aunt and uncle were there and they were all talking about a friend of theirs who had a gay son. This made Ariana run into the bathroom and cry. Ariana snuck up behind her and kissed her on the cheek, which made Rukhsana jump away in a panic. All the older women were obsessed with Irfan, a young eligible bachelor. That weekend, Rukhsana’s parents took her to a wedding and bragged to all their friends about Rukhsana’s acceptance to Caltech, which gave Rukhsana hope that her parents would allow her to attend her dream school. When Ariana came for dinner, she impressed Rukhsana’s parents and made a great impression. Rukhsana promised that she would tell her parents soon and invited Ariana to come over for dinner to meet them as a friend first. When her Aunty Meena came by to drop off food, Rukhsana made Ariana hide in the pantry, which infuriated Ariana. The next day, Rukhsana had Ariana over to her house. At first, her mother said there was no way she could go, but her father said Cal-tech was an amazing school and they should be proud of her accomplishment. However, she wanted to live in California with Ariana and study astronomy. Rukhsana had not told them that she applied because they wanted her to attend the University of Washington so she could remain at home. At first, she was worried that they had found out she was a lesbian, but they revealed that a letter from Caltech offering her a full-ride scholarship had come.

One day, Rukhsana came home from school and found both her parents waiting for her.

On top of this, they favored her brother, Aamir, and always made sure that he had time to study while they forced her to focus on cooking at home so she would one day be a desirable wife. Rukhsana constantly felt torn between her two worlds because her parents were extremely conservative and had strict rules about what she could wear, who she could see, and how she should act. At school, however, she had a girlfriend, Ariana, and spent all her time with her two best friends, Jen and Rachel, who were white and progressive. At home, she was the ideal Muslim daughter who did everything her Bangladeshi-born parents asked of her. Rukhsana was a senior in high school living in Seattle. The novel is narrated by Rukhsana, the 17-year-old protagonist of the story. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Khan, Sabina.

The life and lies of rukhsana ali