Marissa Stapley and Uzma Jalaluddin's Three Holidays and a Wedding is a funny & festive multi-faith rom-com
CBC Books | Posted: February 1, 2023 3:47 PM | Last Updated: February 1, 2023
Three Holidays and a Wedding will be published on Sept. 26, 2023
Canadian authors Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley have teamed up to write a new book, one that will get you in the holiday spirit later this year!
Three Holidays and a Wedding is a multi-faith holiday rom-com about the love that occurs when Christmas, Ramadan and Hanukkah all fall at the same time. The story follows two strangers-turned-friends, Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson, who are snowbound in the small, charming town of Snow Falls — along with the cast and crew of a holiday romance movie, nosy family members, and their lifelong crushes.
"Delightful havoc" — otherwise known as romance and relationship drama and comedy — ensues.
Jalaluddin is an Ontario writer, teacher and parenting columnist known for taking classic romantic comedies and giving them a modern Muslim twist. She first did it with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with her debut novel Ayesha at Last. Then she did it with You've Got Mail, with her breakout novel Hana Khan Carries On. Jalaluddin is also publishing another novel in 2023 titled Much Ado About Nada, which is set to come out in June.
Hana Khan Carries On is being adapted into a film by Mindy Kaling and was on the Canada Reads 2023 longlist.
Stapley is a Toronto writer, journalist and author of romance, thrillers and romantic comedies. Her books include Mating for Life, Things To Do When It's Raining, The Last Resort and, most recently, Lucky, an action-packed thriller, and The Holiday Swap, which was co-written by Karma Brown under the pen-name Maggie Knox.
Lucky was a pick for American actor and producer Reese Witherspoon's Book Club and the TV rights for Lucky were picked up by ABC Disney Studios and Carlton Cuse in 2021.
The co-written romantic comedy novel Three Holidays and a Wedding will be published on Sept. 26, 2023.
Read an excerpt from Three Holidays and a Wedding below.
Anna glanced at her watch as the plane bumped frantically through the turbulent air. "The pilot said ten, fifteen minutes, and it's been three now so we're ... almost halfway to the end of this?"
Maryam nodded. "You're right," she said. "We're going to be fine."
"You bet we are! I'm going to make it to Toronto to meet my boyfriend's family and have the best Christmas ever, and you and your family are going to your sister's wedding!"
Suddenly, Maryam looked more dejected than she had the moment before, when she had been fearing death. "My sister's wedding, in the middle of Ramadan."
"Doesn't really sound like you're looking forward to it much," Anna said, gripping her armrest against a particularly violent lurch.
Maryam winced and shook her head.
"Not really, if I'm being honest. It's just a lot to deal with at this time of year. And I'm not sure my sister has really thought this through. Marriage is a huge commitment."
"I totally agree," Anna said.
"You have to be really sure."
"Absolutely."
I'm not sure my sister has really thought this through. Marriage is a huge commitment.
"And does a really sure person plan a last-minute wedding in the middle of our most important holiday?"
Lurch, lurch, lurch. Anna tried to think of something supportive to say, but the shuddering of the plane was a total distraction.
Even if the right words didn't come to her, Anna was proud of herself, she realized. Sure, she was scared — but there was a clarity to her fear. As the plane careened and floundered, something felt like it had started to shift inside her. It was as if none of the things that had worried her so much as she was boarding the flight could touch her anymore. She didn't care that her suitcase was probably stuck in a snowbank at Denver International. She didn't care that she might not make it to the Vandergreys' Christmas Cocktails or any of the other fancy events her boyfriend's family had planned. And, she especially didn't care that she might never get to wear the engagement ring she had found in Nick's luggage that morning.
The truth was, she was relieved.
"Oh no," she said, as she truly came to understand the seriousness of this. She was actually thinking she would rather get in a plane crash than have Nick propose to her. If her moments on earth were numbered, she needed to find a way to work through this. She turned to Maryam as the plane took a sudden nosedive and said, "I think my entire life is a lie," — Just as Maryam said, "I'm so tired of being someone I'm not."
She didn't care that she might not make it to the Vandergreys' Christmas Cocktails or any of the other fancy events her boyfriend's family had planned. And, she especially didn't care that she might never get to wear the engagement ring she had found in Nick's luggage that morning.
The two young women's eyes were wide as they stared at each other. The plane lurched hard, once, twice. "What are we supposed to do?" Anna asked Maryam, her voice strangled by fear. "Assume the crash position? To be honest, I never pay attention when the flight attendant explains the emergency protocols, it's too terrifying..."
"What if we just kept talking?" Maryam suggested.
"Distract each other. Okay. So tell me more. Why exactly do you feel like you're pretending to be someone you're not?"
"I'm so tired of taking care of everything," Maryam said. "Everyone relies on me for everything. Instead of being upset with my sister about upending Ramadan this year, my parents are secretly delighted she's marrying a fellow doctor, even though she's off traveling the world and never home. Why should they care? I'm the dutiful one, the one who decided to become a pharmacist to keep the family business going. You'd think that would make them happy. But it doesn't feel like enough." Her eyes were filling with tears. "And they all call me Bor-yam."
"Boryam?"
"Yes. Boring-Maryam. That's my nickname. But the worst part is they're right! I am boring! I bore myself sometimes! For the record, being a pharmacist is possibly the most boring job in the world!" Anna thought about the way she had felt earlier that day, back at her apartment, as she had carefully chopped one tiny Dramamine tablet in half. It hadn't been the most interesting task.
"What would you do instead, if you could do anything at all? Sky's the limit," Anna asked, curious now.
"I'd be a writer." Maryam responded so quickly, Anna could tell she really meant it. "I'd have a fascinating, interesting, creative life and not have to worry about anyone but myself. Please, don't get me wrong, I love my family, but I don't want to carry around every single detail about everyone else's life inside my head because they all think I'm too boring to have my own dreams! But there is zero money and zero future in writing. Ask my parents." She took a deep breath. "Do you know what I also want? To be seen for who I really am by a certain someone. But he, like everyone else, only sees one thing when he looks at me: Bor-yam!"
"Who is this certain someone?" Anna said, her voice hoarse. Her knuckles paled as she gripped the armrest while the plane gave a particularly pronounced shudder.
"His name is Saif," Maryam said. "He's probably on this plane, sitting in the front with the rest of my family. I've had a crush on him since I was old enough to talk. But I'm sure he's never noticed me once in his life."
Excerpted from Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley. Copyright © 2023 Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley. Published by Viking Canada, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Corrections:- An earlier version of this post said Three Holidays and a Wedding was being published on Oct. 3. It is coming out on Sept. 26. February 1, 2023 4:54 PM