A Very Large Expanse of Sea

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi is a 2018 semi-autobiographical young adult novel set in America one year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Sixteen-year-old Shirin, a Muslim girl born in America to Persian immigrant parents from Iran, experiences intolerance and hatred in her school and the outside world. Shirin tries to maintain emotional distance from peers to protect herself, but the hesitant romance that develops between Shirin and Ocean Desmond James, a popular white boy, is too strong to deny. The book was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. This guide references the 2018 Harper Collins Publishers edition.

Plot Summary

The novel begins on Shirin’s first day at yet another new school. She is 16, a sophomore, and accustomed to stares and racist comments from others. Shirin, who is Muslim, was born in America to Persian immigrants from Iran. Others, though, see her appearance and hijab (the traditional headscarf she chooses to wear) and make assumptions: that she is an immigrant, that she does not speak English, that her parents force her to wear the hijab. It is September of 2002—one year after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when terrorists associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda killed thousands of Americans.