Farah Naz Rishi has lived many lives. After stints as a lawyer, an editorial assistant, and a video game journalist, Rishi published her first novel in 2019. Two years later, her new novel It All Comes Back to You has hit the shelves.
Rishi’s YA rom-com follows Kiran and Deen, two teenagers who try—and fail—to put aside their troubled history when their older siblings announce their intention to get married.
Farah Naz Rishi lived many lives before publishing a book
Rishi earned her BA from Bryn Mawr College, and her JD from Lewis & Clark Law School, where she specialized in environmental and animal law. Since then, she has worked as a lawyer, an editorial assistant, and a journalist. But now, she makes her living as an author and voice actor.
Her first novel, I Hope You Get this Message, debuted in 2019. The coming-of-age sci-fi tale follows three teenagers as they face their pasts at the end of the world. Amazon has already picked up I Hope You Get this Message for a screen adaptation.
Farah Naz Rishi turned to writing to face the loss of her family
As Rishi notes in her acknowledgements, she began writing It All Comes Back to You after losing her mother to ALS. This loss itself was shortly preceded by the loss of her brother and father, as well.
“Losing my dad was only the beginning, and writing was the only way I knew how to process it all,” Rishi told Rich in Color. “Part of it always will be.”
Despite facing down such heavy loss while writing It All Comes Back to You, Rishi handles pain and loss throughout the story with a constant optimism, balancing that loss with love, family, forgiveness and of course, humor.
Cover art by Zahra Fatima
“It All Comes Back to You” by Farah Naz Rishi
It All Comes Back to You follows the stories of Kiran and Deen, two teenagers thrown together by fate—much to their chagrin. The two young teenagers dated for a time, before Deen simply dropped out of Kiran’s life, right when she needed him most. That is, until the two are forced back together by the sudden news that their older siblings plan to get married.
The YA desi rom-com follows these stories as the young protagonists navigate heartache, loss, regret, and eventually forgiveness.
“This is a book about second chances: not just with romance, but with family, with faith,” Rishi explains. “[It’s] about what happens when we can’t forgive ourselves—when we feel as though we are unworthy of forgiveness—and how it can harm those we love the most.”
Read It All Comes Back to You today, and check out some of Farah Naz Rishi’s favorite authors, including SK Ali, Sabaa Tahir, Syed M. Masood and more:
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London Shah
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