PAINTED HANDS - Jennifer Zobair

First-time novelist Jennifer Zobair tackles a tough and passionate subject in chronicling the lives of two best friends living in Boston, who happen to be Muslim-American women in America after 9/11.  Amras was always the good girl, the hard worker who has been toiling away for countless hours, for years, in an attempt to make partner at her law firm, when she reconnects (and falls in love with) a crush from childhood who seems the perfect man for her ... even as she wonders how much of herself she can really show to him, considering his more traditional Muslim ways.  Zainab, a strikingly beautiful woman whose feminism mindset puts her at odds with her faith even as she is forced to defend it, gets a job playing a key role in helping a feminist Republican Senate candidate with her campaign, and finds herself up against a severely right-wing radio show host who blasts Muslims and immigration on the air, even he finds himself falling in love with her.  Though many may see this as "women's fiction," I found Zobair's exploration of the political climate in this country, regarding the issues presented, was as intriguing as the characters she's created to carry the story.  A very accomplished first novel, and I look forward to more.  ****1/2