Asian Booklist: February
Discover new books by British-Asian authors
Update from Kia
Hello!
It’s been a quiet January for me as I’m in that beautiful place where Book 5 is with my editor and I haven’t yet had to start Book 6.
I’ve spent the month reading, boxing, writing for Atlas & Boots and spending time with friends and family.
I did have a weird few days in the middle of the month where I couldn’t figure out what I was going to do with my year. From 2019 to 2023, I’ve basically had a book out every year. When I signed my new contract, however, I asked to move to a slower schedule of a book every other year. In theory, this is great as it gives me lots of time – but for someone who works best to deadlines, it almost feels like too much time.
I didn’t want to get to December 2024 and be like what did I do with this year? I very nearly signed up to the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism by distance learning (I’ve wanted to do the course for years as I don’t have a formal journalism qualification despite working in editorial roles over the last 15 years), but two fairly severe glitches in their checkout process made me doubt that they could effectively run a distance learning course, so I decided against it at the very last minute.
Instead, I’ve decided that my big project for this year will be… *drumroll please *... to write my next novel 🤦🏽♀️. I figure I’ll get a head start on Book 6 and if I can get that finished this year, perhaps I’ll do the diploma at a physical centre next year. It will cost three times as much but I think it’ll be worth the difference.
In summary, I’ll keep on keeping on.
Until next time.
Kia
Asian Booklist is – and always will be – free but if you find it useful, please upgrade your subscription to help with our running costs.
New books by British-Asian authors
1 February 2024
Winter Animals
In one of America's Happiest Cities, Elen is trapped under the shadow of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains. Elen is alone, and unmoored. Her husband has left her. Her belongings are in the boot of her car. Her days are filled mostly with silence and drinking. When she meets four English teenagers in a decaying bar, she is enamoured. The teenagers are wealthy squatters, drifting between ski resorts and breaking into […]
1 February 2024
Victory City
In the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga - literally 'victory city' […]
8 February 2024
How to Find a Rainbow
Reena hates rainy days. She hates the way the dark clouds make everything look so dull. Rekha loves rainy days. She loves the way the rain makes the earth smell. When Rekha spots a rainbow, she rushes indoors to tell her sister about it. Reena will want to paint it, for sure! But when the sisters go outside to find it, the rainbow disappears. Where could it have gone? […]
13 February 2024
Sona Sharma, Looking After Planet Earth
Sona is determined to get her whole suburban Indian neighborhood to help fight climate change in this heartwarming story. When Sona learns about the climate crisis at school, she worries nobody is doing enough to combat it. So she takes up the challenge herself! But her family isn't amused when Sona suddenly gets rid of her sister's diapers and turns off Thatha and Paatti's cooling fan during their nap. […]
13 February 2024
Closer to Love: How to Attract the Right Relationships and Deepen Your Connections
Bestselling author of Good Vibes, Good Life and Healing is the New High, Vex King is back with Closer to Love, a life-changing guide to strengthening your relationships by honouring and nurturing the one you have with yourself. Do you love your partner but want to rekindle that ‘in love’ feeling? Do you go on plenty of dates but can’t seem to click with the right person? […]
15 February 2024
A Pebble in the Throat: Growing Up Between Two Continents
A Glasgow Girl is the coming of age story of Aasmah Mir's childhood growing up in 1970s Glasgow. From a vivacious child to a teenage loner, Aasmah candidly shares the highs and lows of growing up between two cultures – trying to fit in at school and retreating to the safe haven of a home inhabited by her precious but distant little brother and Helen, her family's Glaswegian guardian angel. […]
29 February 2024
Grimwood: Attack of the Stink Monster!
A Bigfoot is on the loose! Ted, Nancy, Willow and the rest of the Grimwood gang must embark on their greatest adventure yet to save their home from a nasty, thieving stink monster. Monster hunters are GO! Fully illustrated throughout and full of heart, laughs and surprises, this is the must-read third title in the bestselling and fantastically funny Grimwood series. […]
29 February 2024
Mister, Mister
An exuberantly imaginative novel of Britishness and unbelonging from the prizewinning author of In Our Mad and Furious City. When Yahya Bas finds himself in a UK detention centre after fleeing the conflict in Syria, he has many questions to face. What was he doing in the desert? Why does he hate this country? Why did he write the incendiary verses which turned him into an online sensation […]
Books out last month
4 January 2024
The Health Fix: Transform Your Health in 8 Weeks
Starting with the experience of his own illness, Dr Ayan Panja, NHS GP and lifestyle medicine expert, brings a unique personalised framework to tailor targeted lifestyle-based interventions to you, with his groundbreaking new book, The Health Fix. Unlike many approaches to health and wellbeing, The Health Fix focuses on the 'why' rather than just the 'what' […]
11 January 2024
The Things That We Lost
Nik has lots of questions about his late father but knows better than to ask his mother, Avani. It's their unspoken rule. When his grandfather dies, Nik has the opportunity to learn about the man he never met. Armed with a key and new knowledge about his parents' past, Nik sets out to unlock the secrets that his mother has been holding onto his whole life […]
18 January 2024
Hidden Fires
How can you live in the present when you’re trying to bury the past? Ramadan, 2017. Yusuf wakes up in the middle of the night to pray. His routine is always the same, but something tells him that tonight is different. Yellow flames blur Yusuf’s vision, and the laughter of a small child echoes in his ears. But this time, the red, smoke-filled skies aren’t just in his memory […]
18 January 2024
Know Your Place
At four years old, Dr Faiza Shaheen was told by her mum that one day she would study at the University of Oxford. As the daughter of a car mechanic attending state schools, the odds were low, but she worked hard and succeeded. Today, she’s a leading statistician and standing for election as a Member of Parliament. Why do we glorify success as personal triumph like this? […]
18 January 2024
The Detective
Has someone got away with murder? On the verge of a four-billion-dollar deal, a tech entrepreneur from Shoreditch is found dead in a construction site, which leads to the discovery of three skeletons over a hundred years old. But as fresh bodies turn up, can Detective Kamil – along with his friend Anjoli – prevent another murder? Desperate to solve his first case for the Met, will Kamil put his reputation on the line? […]
25 January 2024
Empireworld: How British Imperialism Has Shaped the Globe
Empireland examined imperialism's lasting impact on Britain. Empireworld traces the legacies of British empire across the globe. 2.6 billion people are inhabitants of former British colonies. The empire's influence upon the quarter of the planet it occupied, and its gravitational influence upon the world outside it, has been profound: from the spread of Christianity by missionaries to nearly 1 in 3 driving on the left side of the road […]
Editor’s choice
The book I’m most excited about…
If you want me to add something to my TBR, you merely have to whisper a likeness to Donna Tartt.
Ashani Lewis’s Winter Animals has indeed been compared to The Secret History, so naturally piqued my interest.
In one of America's Happiest Cities, 38-year-old Elen feels trapped and listless. Her husband has left her. Her belongings are in the boot of her car. Her days are filled mostly with silence and drinking. When she meets four English teenagers in an empty bar, she is enamoured.
Luka, Clover, George and Lyn are wealthy squatters, drifting between ski resorts and breaking into empty Airbnbs. When they bring Elen into their fold – and into their messy, entangled relationships – she senses a violent secret that fuels the four's neverending disappearing act.
Dazzling, cultish, and intensely committed to creating their own utopia, they cause Elen to ruminate on the irresistible pull of bright young things. She doesn't understand what they want from her, but how can she leave when she has nowhere else to go?
A meditation on the dangers and seductive power of youthful idealism, Winter Animals is clearly reminiscent of The Secret History. A six-figure deal for Ashani Lewis further indicates that this book is going to be big.
Order it now from Amazon or Waterstones or your local independent bookshop.
Visit asianbooklist.com for more upcoming books by British-Asian authors or view all the books out last year.