cover coming soon
Rabha Ashry is losing her mind.
Fleeing her narcissistic mother and the suffocating cage of her home life in the UAE, Rabha must leave behind her sisters to seek asylum in Chicago on a search for a new, loving home. But she finds herself in and out of psych wards, suffering again and again from manic episodes, and on too many pills that don’t work.
In this searing, lyrical memoir, Rabha maps the geography of her survival. From the manic highs and crushing lows of bipolar disorder to the uncertain, frightening journey of seeking asylum, Hope You Still Love Me explores a queer, Bipolar, Arab woman’s search for acceptance and belonging, and what it takes to heal. A profound exploration of language and self, of cultural and personal identity, and the journey of exile and homecoming.
Home is a story. Home is a trap. Home is a way out. Hope You Still Love Me traces the journey of a girl lost in lights and stars and down side streets, tangled in spider webs, seeing the world behind the world, as she navigates the tension between the family we are born into and the family we build from scratch. When we finally stop running, home isn't a place you return to—it’s a place you fight to create.