SuitabookThe Henna Wars
Adiba Jaigirdar
- Reading
- Read alongside the young person if family, faith, sexuality or cultural identity may feel personal. Pause after the coming-out response and henna dispute, asking what felt fair, hurtful or supportive.
- Themes
- Being accepted within family and faith: Nishat tells her parents she is lesbian while they expect her to marry a Bengali man; her parents respond with silence, while her sister Priti supports her. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Cultural ownership and learning: Nishat’s henna practice connects her to her grandmother and heritage, while Flávia starts a competing henna business after seeing designs at a Bengali wedding. The conflict is presented as a sustained exploration of why a practice can carry different meanings for people from marginalised backgrounds.
- Queer friendship and romance amid prejudice: Nishat develops a crush on Flávia, a biracial bisexual girl, while both navigate friendship changes, school pressures and prejudice in a mostly white Catholic school. The relationship is treated as a central romance between queer girls of colour, alongside conflict and social pressure rather than only marginalisation.
- Worth knowing
- Be ready to discuss a painful parental response to coming out, school bullying and racism, a vandalised henna stall, attraction between girls, tame kisses, and occasional strong language.