First-year students are required to read the novel Behind You is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj in the summer of 2025.

At its heart, the First Year Summer Read encourages critical thinking about identity, belonging, and the intersection of personal and social justice. For that reason, it is the start of a three-year exploration of Race, Power, and Perspective (RPP) within the Goucher Commons Curriculum. Besides RPP, you'll have opportunities to explore your identity and examine how factors like race, gender, and class influence access to privilege and power. You’ll also develop skills for engaging in respectful communication across differences, both in the classroom and beyond.

First Year Summer Reads from previous years have, for example, explored the experiences of a Cuban American woman navigating predominantly white spaces (My Time Among the Whites), racism in the medical community (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), and the challenges facing children seeking asylum due to displacement (Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions).

This year’s Summer Read explores the immigrant experience of Arab American communities living in Baltimore. Like any great work of fiction, author Susan Muaddi Darraj invites us into a world where the protagonists react to situations that may differ from our own. While some may disagree with their actions, understanding their context helps us reflect on the connections between identity, perspective, and biases. As Goucher’s Professor Emeritus, and novelist, Madison Smartt Bell has written, “this book will show you how different kinds of people can learn to get along, and also how they often don’t.”

First-Year Reading Assignment

View more information about the Goucher College First-Year Reading Assignment (PDF)

Book Discussion

All incoming first-year students are required to attend an in-person book discussion on Wednesday, August 27 from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m.

Come ready to delve into the book further with your classmates. Bring your written assignment. More details will be posted closer to the discussion.

Author Campus Visit Speaking Event

Susan Muaddi Darraj is scheduled to be on campus on Thursday, September 18, 2025 at 7 p.m at the Athenaeum.

About The Author Susan Muaddi Darraj

Excerpted from Susan Muaddi Darraj's official website

“Susan Muaddi Darraj is an award-winning writer of books for adults and children. She won an American Book Award, two Arab American Book Awards, and a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artists Award. In 2018, she was named a USA Artists Ford Fellow. Her books include her linked short story collection, A Curious Land, as well as the Farah Rocks children’s book series. She lives in Baltimore, where she teaches creative writing at Harford Community College and the Johns Hopkins University. Her novel, Behind You Is the Sea, received praise from The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Ms. magazine, and it was named a Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker and Apple Books. Behind You Is the Sea was also longlisted for the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award.”