Bride Of The Sea by Eman Quotah

Muneer sees a much younger Saeedah and falls for her. She is his cousin and the family feels this will be a good match and Saeedah is more than happy to leave Saudi Arabia for the wilds of Cleveland. As university students they do not have much but it is not a bad marriage in the beginning. As Saeedah is expecting their first child the couple drifts apart, especially Saeedah. They divorce and Saeedah does the unthinkable - she takes their little girl and runs. Muneer and his family search for years but come up empty. Once grown their daughter is spotted and reunited with her father and family in Saudi Arabia. A child of both cultures belonging to neither one, this is a poignant story of broken families, broken cultures and the expectations of straddling the old traditions with the modern world. It is also a story of what it is like after 9/11 to be a muslim living in a country that doesn't trust you and fears you.  3 1/2 stars