"A story about love, marriage, compromise, parenthood and the difference between the life one imagined and reality."* Fifteen years ago, Krista Bremer, a California-bred feminist, surfer, and aspiring journalist, met Ismail Suayah, sincere, passionate, kind, yet from a very different world. One of eight siblings born in an impoverished fishing village in Libya, Ismail was raised a Muslim-and his faith informed his life. When Krista and Ismail made the decision to become a family, she embarked on a journey she never could have imagined, an accidental jihad: a quest for spiritual and intellectual growth that would open her mind and, more important, her heart. "A bold piece of writing (and thinking) by an incredibly brave woman." -Elizabeth Gilbert, author of The Signature of All Things "A moving, lyrical memoir."-Kirkus Reviews "Candid and rich." -Good Housekeeping "Unrelenting candor and gorgeous prose." -BookPage "Krista Bremer has a very good story." -The New York Times Book Review "A beautiful account of [Krista's] jihad, or struggle, to find peace within herself and within her marriage." -The Kansas City Star "Lucid, heartfelt, and profoundly humane . . . Navigates the boundaries of religion and politics to arrive at the universal experience of love." -G. Willow Wilson, author of Alif the Unseen "This is a memoir worth reading." -*Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Krista Bremer is the associate publisher of The Sun magazine and the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation award. Her essay on which this book is based, "My Accidental Jihad," received a Pushcart Prize. Her essays have been published in O: The Oprah Magazine,More magazine, and The Sun, and she's been featured on NPR and in the PBS series Arab American Stories. Her website is www.kristabremer.com. "My Accidental Jihad is a bold piece of writing (and thinking) by an incredibly brave woman." -Elizabeth Gilbert, author of The Signature of All Things and Eat, Pray, Love "Utterly absorbing . . . A beautiful book." -Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild "Candid and rich." -Good Housekeeping "Lucid, heartfelt and profoundly humane, My Accidental Jihad navigates the boundaries of religion and politics to arrive at the universal experience of love." -G. Willow Wilson, author of Alif the Unseen "A beautiful account of [Bremer's] jihad, or struggle, to find peace within herself and within her marriage." -The Kansas City Star "Readers of memoir will welcome this love story about patience and kindness and learning the importance of putting culture first." -Library Journal "A moving, lyrical memoir . . . A sweet and rewarding journey of a book." -Kirkus Reviews "Told with rare honesty, My Accidental Jihad is the story of Krista Bremer's lifelong quest for insight and understanding, a search that leads her out of the Pacific surf to journalism school in North Carolina and through the complex challenges and unexpected joys of a cross-cultural marriage and family. This book is a powerfully personal account of the courage and hard work necessary to open one's heart and keep it that way." -Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements "My Accidental Jihad is one of the most captivating and moving memoirs I've read in years. The story Krista Bremer tells--one of radical foreignness between a married couple--could be a metaphor for all committed relationships." -Haven Kimmel, author of A Girl Named Zippy