In MONA, Azra Liaqat Khan humorously lays out the double life she lived for years, playing the pious academic daughter of her ultra-traditional Muslim parents while working as a stripper in New York City. Azra's childhood in Charlotte, North Carolina was typical for Muslim-Americans, but when her family joined the ultra-orthodox Salafi sect, a rigid lifestyle is imposed on her: no music, no Bollywood films, and no mixing between men and women. Azra revels in getting around her parents rules and is soon hooked on the thrill of getting off scot-free. By the time Azra enters college she's a pro at deception. Her newfound freedom is intoxicating - she spends school nights partying, but never misses her mother's nightly 7pm check-in calls. Then 9/11 happens: reeling from Islamophobia, Azra snaps out of her millennial stupor, familiarises herself with the inside of a lecture hall and begins to investigate the origins of American militarism, capitalistic-fuelled plunder, and the ways in which American interference played a hand in the traditional interpretation of Islam that swept through Muslim communities. When her parents begin the process of marrying her off, crafty Azra finds a way out by applying to grad school in New York City. Deep in student debt and chaffing underneath her parent's mandates, she starts stripping, and thus, 'Mona' is born. MONA is hardly the shopworn tale of a repressed Muslim girl throwing off her shackles to find fun and sex in the big city. With a winning mixture of wry humour and laugh-out-loud comedy, and keen insight into class and race, Azra takes readers into 'the club,' revealing the ins and outs of dealing with 'the johns' and the social hierarchies of 'the girls.' An original, moving journey of self-discovery that shrewdly dissects the Bermuda triangle of imperialist racism, misogyny, and exploitative capitalism that Azra must navigate to ultimately become whole.