This is a sweet folow up to Uzma Jalaluddin's first novel, Ayesha at Last, which was a rather delightful take on Pride and Prejudice set in a Muslim immigrant community in Toronto. Much Ado About Nada is a second chance love story, a riff on Jane Austen's Persuasion. Nada Syed (rather like Anne Elliot, in a different time and place) is single, still living with her family, disappointed, convinced that she'd failed at life, when she finds herself unexpectedly confronted with a past she thought was long behind her.

Again, Jalaluddin does a masterful job of transposing a classic story into a modern setting (and adding a few twists about work life as well, an important part of 21st century reality). I didn't find our heroine quite as compelling or likable as I did Ayesha Shamsi--she's a bit more self-absorbed, a bit more closed off, a bit less observant of others' problems. She makes her way in this novel, though, and improves upon herself, increasing her capacity for friendship, relating better to her relatives, standing up for herself in her career, and finally seizing her chance at love. She deserves her happy ending. (And for fans of Jalaluddin's first novel, Ayesha does make a cameo appearance--it felt a bit like running into an old friend.)

About Me

Laura LaVelle is Wonder Shuffle's Culture Editor. A fan of the great indoors, you can find her in her native NYC, her home in Connecticut, or at a concert, play, library, bookstore, or museum just about anywhere in the world.

NOVEL: Much Ado About Nada

AUTHOR: Uzma Jalaluddin

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2023

IMAGE: book cover, Berkley