Hollow Fires

Seventeen-year-old Muslim student Safiya faces racial and socio-economic prejudice at her private school in Chicago and writes about the racism she sees. Safiya is then visited by the ghost of Jawad Ali, the recent victim of a hate crime, and she is determined to solve his murder. In her pursuit of justice for Jawad, she unknowingly pursues a romantic relationship with his murderer. This engaging novel, based on a real-life murder from 1924, can be used as a literature circle, independent, or class novel and deals with systemic racism, white supremacy, hate crimes, and social media designed to groom youth, and refers to real-life accounts of police brutality and hate crimes in America. Social considerations noted, caution about racist words and phrases.