Tasneem Abdur-Rashid – författare

'Totally charming' EVA VERDE'An engaging and enjoyable romcom' ALIYA ALI-AFZAL'A warm hug of a book' SARA JAFARILonglisted for the Jhalak Prize 2025 and the Diverse Book Awards 2025.Maya's life is safe, predictable, quiet . . .She spends her days at the same job she's been at for years, her evenings watching Bollywood movies with her parents and her Saturday nights eating out at the same restaurant with her childhood best friend.When Maya meets Noah on the Underground, for twenty glorious minutes her life becomes exciting. Until he jumps off the train, accidentally leaving behind a notebook containing a list of thirty things he wants to do before he turns thirty.Crushed by the abrupt ending to what could have been her happily ever after, Maya challenges herself to work through the items on his list, secretly hoping that whilst climbing out of her rut and (quite literally) climbing mountains, she may find Noah as well as herself. Instead, she meets Zakariya; an annoying suitor brought to her by her parents via a dodgy marriage CV.But how can a flawed, real life person ever compare to the man in the notebook?

Her parents' divorce has Maaryah bidding bye-bye to Dubai and her life of luxury . . . and hello to dreary London, where things get . . . complicated.There are house parties, annoying-yet-hot boys and the isolating reality of being the only hijabi in a massive school.Can Maaryah stay true to herself, even when another bombshell rocks her world . . . ?Odd Girl Out has been shortlisted for multiple awards including the Warwickshire Teen Book Awards, Redbridge Book Awards, Redhill Academy Trust YA Book Award, Girls Day School Trust Awards & the Muslim Book Awards. It has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal, longlisted for the Branford Boase Award and won the Strange Incorporated Award.

'If there's one book you need to read this summer it's Finding Mr Perfectly Fine' Yousra ImranLast week I turned 29. Along with the usual homemade Victoria sponge, helium balloon and Selfridges gift vouchers, my Mum's birthday present to me was the threat that if I'm not engaged by my 30th birthday, she's sending me off to the Motherland to find a fresh-from-the-Desh husbandWhen Zara's Mum puts together the most archaic of arranged marriage resources (not exactly the romcom-worthy love story she had envisioned for herself), she is soon exhausted by her family's failed attempts to set her up with every vaguely suitable Abdul, Ahmed and Farook that they can find. Zara decides to take matters into her own hands. How hard can it be to find a husband at twenty-nine?With just a year to go, time is of the essence, so Zara joins a dating app and signs up for speed dating.She meets Hamza, a kind British Egyptian who shares her values and would make a good husband. Zara knows that not all marriages are based on love (or lust) at first sight but struggles with the lack of spark. Particularly when she can't stop thinking of someone else . . .As her next birthday looms, and family pressure intensifies, Zara knows she must make a decision, but will she make the right one?

Last week I turned 29. Along with the usual homemade Victoria sponge, helium balloon and Selfridges gift vouchers, my Mum''s birthday present to me was the threat that if I''m not engaged by my 30th birthday, she''s sending me off to the Motherland to find a fresh-from-the-Desh husbandWhen Zara''s Mum puts together the most archaic of arranged marriage resources (not exactly the romcom-worthy love story she had envisioned for herself), she is soon exhausted by her family''s failed attempts to set her up with every vaguely suitable Abdul, Ahmed and Farook that they can find. Zara decides to take matters into her own hands. How hard can it be to find a husband at twenty-nine?With just a year to go, time is of the essence, so Zara joins a dating app and signs up for speed dating.She meets Hamza, a kind British Egyptian who shares her values and would make a good husband. Zara knows that not all marriages are based on love (or lust) at first sight but struggles with the lack of spark. Particularly when she can''t stop thinking of someone else . . .As her next birthday looms, and family pressure intensifies, Zara knows she must make a decision, but will she make the right one?