This image is the cover for the book Masha'allah

Masha'allah

This “beautifully written and soulful” story collection explores the lives and struggles of those on the fringes of California society (Mark Haskell Smith, author of Baked).

In Masha’allah and Other Stories, debut author Mariah K. Young brings readers deep into the unpredictable landscape of East Oakland, and the varied lives of remarkable individuals who rarely take center stage. In these nine tales, we take a ride with a hired driver who gets more than he bargains for with an unusual fare; we meet a day laborer whose search for work leads him to the edges of human sacrifice and hope; we join a plucky house cleaner named Chinta, who sets up impromptu beauty parlors in the houses she cleans.

Young’s fiction shines not only with literary power and warmth but with eye-opening freshness and honesty that cuts straight to the heart, reflecting our unflagging allegiances to love, family, luck, and hope.

Winner of the first James D. Houston Award

Mariah K. Young

Mariah K. Young was born in Alameda, California, and spent her childhood living in the Bay Area and in Lahaina, Hawai'i. She graduated with an English degree from California State University, East Bay—she still calls it Cal State Hayward, even though no one's counting anymore—where she won the first annual RV Williams prize for fiction. In 2008, she earned her MFA in creative writing from UC Riverside, and that same year, she attended the Squaw Valley Writers' workshop on fellowship. She currently teaches writing in downtown Los Angeles, and lives in Hollywood, where she is hard at work on a novel (when she's not grading essays).

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