This book is not a novel. It tries to tell an interesting story, but it doesn't. We don't really get to know any of the characters.
If you're interested in research about HIV/AIDS, TB and diabetics in details (so detailed that for somebody like me who has no microbiological or medical education it's not intelligible) and in apartheid, Muslim life in South Africa (not in the USA, mind you) and if you don't mind that half of the book consists of references to sources and explanations of the words (Arabic, Afrikaans and Malay) and abbreviations used in the "novel" - this is your book.

This book was well written and timely, as it deals with the aftermath of 9/11 for Leila, who lost her fiancée. This book deals with the research being done on HIV/AIDS and the struggles of being a Muslim woman in the days after 9/11. This was a work of fiction, but there was a lot of relevant information in it.