The Night Is Not for You

When a brutal murder rocks her neighborhood and shatters her sense of safety, seven-year-old Layla realizes that she needs to grow into something untamable, even otherworldly, if she wants the freedom she’s always dreamed of in this visceral and captivating horror debut based on Middle Eastern folklore.

A man is found viciously murdered behind a neighborhood’s corner store, sending shockwaves through the tight-knit community in this small-town neighborhood. The victim’s family and bystanders struggle to make sense of this brutal crime and only want to move on with their lives. 

All seven-year-old Layla dreams of is freedom. To go where she wants, make her own decisions, and live independently. For her it is simply a matter of riding away from her small neighborhood on a pet donkey. But the next murder hits close to home, and Layla realizes that freedom is not so easily achieved. 

With whispers of the signs of a vengeful female jinn—the lingering scent of sweet perfume; mysterious hoof prints—at the crime scene, the men begin to suspect the women around them. But Layla learns that this violence is not the fault of the women in her neighborhood; it is a response to the world around them. As her freedom is increasingly curbed and her frustration mounts, Layla becomes determined to take control and grow into the sort of untamable woman most feared by the men around her.

The night is not for you. It has always belonged to her.

• "Quotah paints us a world that feels ripe for the taking, much like the flowers that make up Layla’s perfumes, but also foreign and warped. The work done here is complex, heartfelt, and painful at times. This is a book that I will return to time and time again, particularly when the world feels vibrant and violent.” 
  Megan Bontrager, author of The Sea Hides Its Dead
• "The Night Is Not for You is a fierce coming of age novel unlike any I’ve read before. Steeped in dread and a wild, aromatic atmosphere, this story is a shapeshifter—from murder mystery to folktale to family drama and back again. Through this mutability, Eman Quotah perfectly captures the dark heart of girlhood, the fear of what lurks in the night, and the thrill of lurking there yourself." 
  Jen Julian, author of Red Rabbit Ghost