These Impossible Things

A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

Three best friends navigate love, sex, faith-and the one night that changes it all-in this novel that reveals "searing and poignant truths about the female experience" (Ashley Audrain, NYT bestselling author of The Push)Whatever happened to the way we were?

It's always been Malak, Kees, and Jenna against the world. Since childhood, under the watchful eyes of their family and community, these three best friends have had to navigate love, sex, faith, and womanhood alongside the expectations of being good Muslim women. But they've always done it together.

Malak wants the dream: for her partner, community, and faith to coexist happily, and she'll even break her own heart to get it. Kees is in love with Harry, a white Catholic man who her parents can never know about. Jenna is always the life of the party, even though she's plagued by an unshakable loneliness. But when their college years come to a close, one night changes everything.

As their lives take different paths, in the wake of heartbreaks, marriages, new careers and new beginnings, Malak, Kees, and Jenna need each other more than ever. Can they forgive and find a way back to each other in time?

These Impossible Things is a moving paean to youth and female friendship-and to all the joy and messiness love holds.

From the publisher

Hachette/ Grand Central Publishing | Jun 7, 2022 | 400 Pages | ISBN:9781538709306 | Women's Fiction

1. Malak, Kees, and Jenna's deep friendship is one of unshakable love and honesty. Discuss why you believe Kees and Malak's differing views about chasing tradition, family, and community approval was the reason for their fracture.

2. These three women are working to hold on to the different parts of themselves-which sometimes contradict one another-to create an authentic life. Discuss your own experiences in having to negotiate and reconcile conflicting parts of your own identity.

3. Discuss Kees and her sister Saba's differing views on marriage, love, and relationships.

4. How do Jenna's views on love and sex stand in contrast to Kees and Malak's? How do you think Jenna's mother's revelation toward the end of the novel would have influenced her behavior had they had these conversations earlier?

5. Describe the ways in which Malak and her life change once she moves to Cairo. Why do you think this change had such an impact, and how does the city affect her sense of self?

6. What did the author mean by the line, "It never fails to amaze her that the real C-word for white people is culture and once it's mentioned people compete to show their respect for it or their knowledge of it"? Discuss whether that resonates with you and your experiences.

7. What were Jacob's motives when he went to Kees and told her the news of Harry's eventual proposal. How do you feel about his involvement in this moment?

8. By the novel's end, all three women have gone through a difficult situation or traumatic event independently. In what ways do you see that being alone impacted their decisions in these situations?

9. Discuss the scene between Kees and her father before the nikah and how that affects Kees's feelings about proceeding to marry Harry? How do you think this impacted your appreciation of her parents' relationship-the sometimes silent but resounding support for each other?

10. Discuss the way the novel's depiction of friendship resonated with you. What does Malak, Kees, and Jenna's relationship say about the bonds of female friendship, as well as regrets, forgiveness, and chosen family?

Book Club Talking Points:
These Impossible Things is a book that feels incredibly personal and a little heartbreaking, but in a good way. It follows three British Muslim women as they navigate their lives, love, and what their faith means to them. It's a great choice for a book club because there's a lot to discuss-relationships, family dynamics, and the choices the characters make. It really stimulates thoughtful conversations.

"A fun, witty, sharply observant work.... El-Wardany captures perfectly the uncertainty of life in one's mid-20s... readers will be thinking about Malak, Kees, and Jenna long after they close the book."-Library Journal (starred review)

"The complex characters are well observed and the prose is often moving... Fresh, witty, and insightful, this is an auspicious start." -Publishers Weekly

"Sparkling, incisive debut... While frothy and chatty, with witty dialogue and plenty of weddings and other gatherings that spark interactions among the characters, the book doesn't shy away from more serious issues... This novel is blessed by a light touch and evenhanded treatment of its two generations of characters."-Kirkus

"These Impossible Things is an addictive portrait of three Muslim friends moving through a pivotal time in womanhood, caught between expectation and possibility, hungry to earn wisdom of their own. Salma El-Wardany deftly reveals searing and poignant truths about the female experience, ones so rarely confronted in fiction. What a gift to be inside this author's mind through the pages of her beautiful and memorable writing."-Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push

"This is the essential book on sisterhood that I needed to read. Beautifully written and gorgeous, Salma El-Wardany is a brilliant writer and this is a story I will never forget."-Nikita Gill, poet and author of Wild Embers

"I can't remember the last time a book consumed me like this. I truly, truly loved it. It's so beautifully written, full of warmth and love and insight; Malak, Kees and Jenna stole into my heart and stayed there. This novel captures the fierceness of female friendship better than anything I've ever read. It is a book I know I will still be thinking about for many years to come."-Beth O'Leary, international bestselling author of The Flatshare and The Road Trip

"Salacious, incisive, and unapologetically Muslim, Salma El-Wardany's bold and brilliant story doesn't shy away from the taboo subjects of religion and sex. These Impossible Things shows that Muslim women are multifaceted and complex despite the dearth of representation we are allowed."-Blair Imani, activist and bestselling author of Read This to Get Smarter