Sorry for the Inconvenience: A Memoir

In this openhearted account, Rishi (I Hope You Get This Message) discusses growing up in a Pakistani American family in Pennsylvania, the dissolution of one romantic relationship, and the possible kindling of another. “It’s embarrassing to admit,” Rishi begins, “but one of the only reasons I decided to take a class at Haverford College was the prospect of meeting a boy.” That imperative stemmed largely from a desire to placate her mother, who was crestfallen that the end of Rishi’s most recent relationship meant her daughter might not marry young. At Haverford, however, Rishi met Jamaican student Stephen Griffiths, with whom she felt an “inevitable, inexplicable connection.” The two became close, leading to a friendship that lasted through Rishi’s time at law school and her work in children’s publishing in the 2010s. Rishi’s attempts to determine whether she wanted Stephen as more than a friend, with all the attendant cultural baggage, forms the spine of the narrative. Fraught family interactions, including her younger brother’s struggles to come out as bisexual and her battles of will with her mother, flesh it out. With forthright prose and dashes of acerbic humor, Rishi does justice to the complexities of inchoate affection and cross-cultural clashes. It’s powerful stuff. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Assoc. (July)