When you’re hiding from a world that hates you, who would make you risk everything to be seen again? It’s the year after 9/11, and Shirin has just started at yet another new high school. It’s a difficult time, but especially so for a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who wears hijab. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She hides away, drowning her frustrations in music and spending her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then Shirin meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know her- and it terrifies her. He’s not like everyone else- but Shirin has had her guard up against the world for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down. A Very Large Expanse Of Sea is a powerful and heartrending novel about fear, first love and the devastating impact of prejudice.