This hilariously uplifting memoir follows an Arab–American woman’s merry life as she shimmies her way from getting dumped by her tattoo-artist boyfriend to coming to grips with being single, ample, and 30. In the tradition of Bridget Jones’s Diary but true, this uniquely American story is filled with colorful characters such as Rosie, the corn-rowed truck-driving belly dancer; Fahed, cologne-doused rich loser; Too-Tall Mary, a member of an amateur belly dancing troupe; and Gimmel, the author’s Jewish great-uncle. While searching online for a sexy sheik to save her from her lackluster existence, Soffee finds a belly dancing class in a catalog and, against the wishes of her Lebanese–American extended family, enrolls in an attempt to find her roots and heal her heart. Her life will never be the same as she discovers the riotous world of American belly dancing, a warm and welcoming subculture where younger and thinner are not necessarily better. Surprised to find happiness among the zils and trills of attending classes and performing in moose lodges and county fairs, she finds true love along the way.

Anne Thomas Soffee earned an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a teacher of emotionally disturbed children. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.