Welcome friend! I was first introduced to Sara Hashem’s work when Ariel was readingThe Jasad Heir. In her latest novel, Where No Shadow Stays, Sara turns her attention to a contemporary setting filled with family secrets, generational debts, and a haunting presence that refuses to be left behind. Seventeen-year-old Mina travels to Egypt in search of answers about her mother’s past—only to return with something far more dangerous than she ever imagined.
I am a huge fan of personal journeys, and when a protagonist keeps a journal, they quickly become a favorite of mine. I’m also a huge fan of chatting with authors! So it’s with great delight that I welcome Sara to Armed with A Book today to discuss writing across genres, crafting unforgettable characters, exploring Egyptian identity through fiction, and bringing Mina’s chilling story to life.
Where No Shadow Stays
A homecoming queen and a bad-boy loner team up to break a generational curse in this YA supernatural horror from a talented American Egyptian voice.
Seventeen-year-old Mina is always focused on what comes next: exams, school dances, opportunities for a picnic by the lake. Filling up the future keeps her from lingering over how little she knows about her history or where she comes from. Anytime she asks her father questions about Egypt–or about her mother’s mysterious death–he struggles to open up.
When Mina receives an invitation from an aunt she’s never met to visit the Haikal mansion, her mother’s childhood home in El Agamy, Mina accepts. She can’t resist the chance to learn more about her roots or what happened to her mother, even if it means lying to her loves ones for the first time in her life.
But when Mina returns from El Agamy, she doesn’t come back alone.
A sinister entity follows Mina from the Haikal mansion to her tiny California town. Mina is forced to abandon her friends, her father, and everything she loves in order to prevent the entity from violently possessing them. Isolated and fighting for her life, Mina must seek help from an unlikely ally: Jesse Talbot, the mortician’s hostile son and the only person who proves immune to possession. Jesse would rather floss with barbed wire than team up with social butterfly Mina, but he doesn’t exactly have a choice—after all, he’s running from family secrets of his own.
As Mina and Jesse dig deeper into Mina’s family lore, they uncover a bloody debt that must be satisfied if Mina wants to finish senior year alive.
Get to know the author: Sara Hashem
Hi Sara! Welcome to Armed with A Book. It is a pleasure to chat with you. Please tell me and my readers a bit about yourself.
Hi Kriti! Thank you for having me. The official bio goes something like:
Sara Hashem is the USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of the The Jasad Heir and The Jasad Crown. An American-Egyptian author from California, she spent many sunny days holed up indoors with a book. Sara’s love for fantasy and magical realms emerged during the two years her family lived in Egypt. When she isn’t busy naming stray cats in her neighborhood after her favorite authors, Sara can be found reheating her coffee into oblivion. Where No Shadow Stays is her YA debut and has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, Shelf Awareness, and School Library Journal. Her next adult fantasy, Merciful Carnage, releases in February 2027.
The only thing I’d add is that I’m trying to become more of a tea person, but I’ve been having mixed success.
Your debut, The Jasad Heir, released in 2023 and was followed by The Jasad Crown. What would you say was the moment when your writing life truly changed—when it no longer felt the same as before?
There were so many moments that felt pivotal to my writing life, but the first would likely be when I was accepted as a mentee in Pitch Wars! The mentorship program was the first time I’d had serious, extensive, thoughtful feedback on my manuscript from folks in the industry (shoutout to Kalyn Josephson and K.M. Enright!). I connected with so many talented authors and learned a lot about publishing.
Moving from epic fantasy to YA supernatural horror in Where No Shadow Stays, what excited you most about exploring a different genre and tone?
Not having to obsess over worldbuilding! Worldbuilding is one of the most important parts of fantasy for me, so a huge chunk of my work is spent figuring out the world, the politics, the magic system, their influences on one another, as well as how the characters fit in that world. With Shadow, the world was a fictionalized version of a real town I’d spent tons of time in, and we’re dealing with a self-contained curse rather than a magic system. I had the page space and the opportunity to add flashback chapters for Mina’s mother and dwell more on the characters and their family dynamics. Plus, this is a YA novel, so I tried to be very intentional about making this a book that would resonate the most with young adults.
Where No Shadow Stays opens with Mina already fearing for her life and having distanced herself from the people she loves. Why did you choose this moment as the reader’s entry point? Was this always the opening scene, even in early drafts?
It has been the opening scene for as many drafts as I can remember! Mina before the curse is almost an entirely different person, and it made more sense that the reader would meet the version of her that stays throughout the book rather than the person she was before.
Mina and Jesse have such sharp, memorable banter despite the high-stakes situation they’re in. What did you enjoy most about writing their dynamic?
As much as I love writing a slow burn, high stakes enemies to lovers dynamic in an adult fantasy, I had so much fun crafting a softer relationship with the edgy loner/peppy popular girl dynamic that I used to eat up as a teen. They’re high schoolers on the cusp of adulthood, which is terrifying in and of itself, and they find each other during the darkest times imaginable. I loved weaving together their moments of humor, affection, and understanding while they chase down the curse.
If Mina had to describe Jesse in one brutally honest sentence in her journal, what do you think she would write?
Egregious taste in T-shirts.
Mina is caught between what she knows of her life in California and what she begins to uncover about her family in Egypt. How did you approach writing that sense of in-betweenness or dual identity?
Mina’s relationship with Egypt and perception of her identify was a difficult one to tackle. She knows nothing about her heritage or her background, and it develops into an eagerness to learn that’s ultimately exploited by her aunt. Her longing to connect and belong led to questions around what informs our views on our identity; how much influence comes from our parents or media or teachers, and how it colors the way we move through the world.
What emotions or lingering feelings do you hope readers walk away with after finishing Where No Shadow Stays?
I can’t share much without spoiling the ending, but hopefully an appreciation of the impact of personal choice in altering generational burdens.
If you could spend a day with one character from Where No Shadow Stays—without the danger—who would you choose and why?
Mr. Talbot! He’s quite the mysterious character, only swooping in during calamity, so I’d want to see what he’s up to the rest of the time.
Sylvia from The Jasad Heir and Mina from this novel are both strong female protagonists in very different worlds. What is one thing you think Sylvia and Mina could learn from each other?
Sylvia is protective of children, particularly isolated or lonely children, so this curse and Mina’s suffering would infuriate her. From Mina, Sylvia could learn to look for silver linings. From Sylvia, Mina could learn that just because bravery doesn’t look the same for everyone doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for having me!
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me!
Thank you, reader, for joining us! Add this book on Goodreads. Where No Shadow Stays is now available wherever books are sold! Be sure to check your local library too.
Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy and Sara D. for the interview opportunity! Stay tuned for my thoughts on the book. 🙂
Books come out every month. If you are curious about new releases that published alongside Where No Shadow Stays, check out this post.
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