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Sometimes you have to lose everything to find yourself… The lake in the middle of her father's kitchen is only the first in a series of disasters in Zeina's life. Nassar's recent health crisis has seen his well-established community restaurant, Casablanca, losing ground and customers to trendier competition. Casablanca's deterioration is not the only chaos in Zeina's world but, unlike her husband who won't speak to her, her best friend who is sliding towards self-destruction, and her cousin who is stealing Zeina's life story for content, the restaurant is something she can fix. And Zeina, lonely and adrift, needs something she can fix. Taking leave from her prestigious chef position, Zeina throws herself into caring for her ailing father, immersing herself in the familiar foods and flavours of her childhood, trying to save both him and his restaurant. But working in the kitchen – and her childhood home – brings memories, secrets, and unexpected ambitions simmering to the surface. When it comes time to make hard decisions, Zeina will have to accept that growing up is an ongoing process – one that never gets any easier.

It may be the twenty-first century, but who says courtship is obsolete?Coming from a (somewhat-traditional) Muslim family, twenty-seven-year-old Samira Abdel-Aziz has seen her fair share of suitors. Her general rule: if he comes in wearing shoes with tassels, a leather jacket circa 1982, and/or has a moustache, the doorknock appeal will fail from the outset. A girl has to have some standards, right?As an assistant at Bridal Bazaar magazine, Samira's sick of all things wedding-related. Then she unwittingly becomes wedding gofer for her cousin/nemesis Zahra and her life begins to resemble a soap opera.When she meets Menem in a chance encounter at a team-building day, for the first time Samira knows what it's like to naturally be interested in someone. But with that comes a whole new set of problems. How do you get to know someone when the options seem to be to get married or end up a spinster? Why is her best friend Lara insisting that Menem isn't right for her? And why has her childhood friend Hakeem started behaving so strangely?A light-hearted but honest peek into the life of a young, single Muslim woman who knows there's more to life than love at first suitor visit.

Life is like an etch-a-sketch. It's only ever clear when it's brand new. After that, no matter how much you wipe over the previous stuff, you can always see the scratch lines, and it never looks the same again. In survival mode following a messy separation, Lara Abdel-Aziz is estranged from her family and out of touch with her best friend Samira. Making ends meet by working a dead-end job at a fast-food shop, she also sings at a local bar, where she enjoys the freedom to be whoever she likes. Bar owner Leo is good company, but her only other interactions are with her mostly absent flatmate Icky, and her neighbour Angela, who owns a New Age store and desperately wants Lara to get in touch with her higher self. After a break-in at work forces Lara into counselling, and an encounter with an old friend leads to an unexpected connection, she must start to unpack the events of her life and make peace with the past. But are some things too broken to ever be fixed? A moving story of healing, connection and fate.

In the cafe, I watch as a woman takes a photo of her plate – an impressive, glossy lime-coloured dessert with shards of chocolate perched on top. I want to feel that ease and confidence, too. Like this is my city again, and I know my way around it.Eight years ago, Sahar pursued her happily ever after when she married Khaled and followed him to Jordan, leaving behind her family, her friends and a thriving cake business. But married life didn't go as planned and, haunted by secrets, Sahar has returned home to Sydney without telling her husband.With the help of her childhood friends, Sahar hits the reset button on her life. She takes a job at a local patisserie run by Maggie, a strong but kind manager who guides Sahar in sweets and life.But as she tentatively gets to know her colleagues, Sahar faces a whole new set of challenges. There's Kat and Inez, who are determined that Sahar try new experiences. Then there's Luke, a talented chocolatier and a bundle of contradictions.As Sahar embraces the new, she reinvents herself, trying things once forbidden to her. But just when she is finally starting to find her feet, her past finds its way back to her.