Asian Booklist: June 2025
Discover new books by British-Asian authors
Update from Kia
Hello,
The time has finally come. My new novel, What Happens in the Dark, is out this month!
People often ask me which of my books is my favourite. I love them all for different reasons: Take It Back because it gave me a career, Truth Be Told because I love the characters deeply, Next of Kin because it’s readers’ favourite and Those People Next Door because that’s the one that got me billboards.
My overall favourite, however, may be What Happens in the Dark. I love Safa Saleem and hope that readers will too.
The official description of the book is below. If you like the sound of it, please pre-order a copy as this makes a real difference to how much support the book will receive. You can buy it from Amazon, Waterstones, Bookshop.org, or order a signed/personalised copy from my local indie, Newham Bookshop.
What Happens in the Dark
Lily and Safa were best friends growing up. Now, Lily is the nation’s favourite breakfast TV presenter and Safa, once a renowned journalist, is reeling from a recent fall from grace.
When news breaks about suspicious bruises on Lily’s body, Safa attempts to rekindle their old friendship. But Lily claims the bruises are nothing to worry about.
And then one night the police are called to Lily’s home. Lily is strangely calm – but a body lies dead at her feet. She pleads not guilty, and then says nothing more.
Driven by her desire to give a voice to all victims, Safa begins her own investigation into what happened that night. But she is not prepared for what her quest for justice will uncover…
Until next time.
Kia x
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Books out this month
12 June 2025
The Spoiled Heart
Nayan has fought hard to move on, losing himself in his political work, trying to make a better world. A fresh challenge arrives with newcomer Megha, who threatens not just his career ambitions, but his ideals. The Spoiled Heart is an explosive story of how a few words or a single action – to one person careless, to another, charged – can trigger a cascade of unimaginable consequences. […]
19 June 2025
What Happens in the Dark
Lily and Safa were best friends growing up. Now, Lily is the nation’s favourite breakfast TV presenter and Safa, once a renowned journalist, is reeling from a recent fall from grace. When news breaks about suspicious bruises on Lily’s body, Safa attempts to rekindle their old friendship. But Lily claims the bruises are nothing to worry about. And then one night the police are called to Lily’s home. […]
19 June 2025
Blue Ruin
It’s the 1990s, and Jay is an artist tipped for greatness. Shortly after graduating from his London art school, a promising career is already taking shape before him. Despite the brutal end of his intense relationship with Alice, his great love, he's destined to make his mark on the world as one of the most brilliant young creatives of the last century. Everyone is going to remember his name… It’s 2020, and Jay lives out of his car, working as a delivery driver in wealthy upstate New York. […]
19 June 2025
This Is Fine
It might not be the stuff of dreams, but Padma and Wallace have spent 10 years building a relationship that feels... fine. Until Wallace gives Padma an ultimatum about starting a family she's not sure she even wants. Padma's 15-year-old niece Myra is reaching her own crisis point. When she falls in with the wrong crowd and her life ends up in danger, it's the final straw for her parents. Now Padma will spend the summer with her niece – in a ramshackle, ivy-clad house on the Kent clifftops – running a DIY rehab of sorts. […]
19 June 2025
Determination
Jamila Shah is 29 and exhausted. An immigration solicitor tasked with running the precious family law firm, Jamila is prone to being woken in the middle of the night by frantic phone calls from clients on the cusp of deportation. Working under the shadow of the government's 'hostile environment', she constantly prays and hopes that their 'determinations' will result in her clients being allowed to stay. With no time for friends, family or even herself (never mind a needy partner), Jamila’s life feels hectic and out of control. […]
Books out last month
1 May 2025
The Girl In Cell A
The world knows her as the girl in Cell A. Convicted of murder at 17, infamous killer and true crime celebrity Orianna Negi has always maintained her innocence. Orianna has a blind spot over that fateful day: she can't remember what happened. But if she didn’t kill Gideon Wyclerc, then who did? Forensic psychologist Annie Ledet is tasked with unlocking the truth. […]
1 May 2025
Knife
On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are. […]
8 May 2025
Overland
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime: the open road, London to Kathmandu, just three young people looking for adventure. No one could have predicted the way it ended, and for 50 years the truth has been buried. But now, Joyce is ready to tell her story. […]
8 May 2025
Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence
The lives of Mishal Husain’s grandparents changed forever in 1947, as the new nation states of India and Pakistan were born. For years she had a partial story, a patchwork of memories and anecdotes: hurried departures, lucky escapes from violence and homes never seen again. Decades later, the fragment of an old sari sent Mishal on a journey through time, using letters and diaries to trace four lives shaped by the Raj. […]
22 May 2025
The Chemist
Local pharmacist and pillar of the community Idris Khan spends his days doling out methadone to the hundreds of addicts in his care. They trust Idris with their secrets, and so he knows more than his mild manner suggests. So when his childhood sweetheart, Rebecca, doesn’t turn up for her daily methadone dose, Idris is worried. Worried enough to go looking for her in the most deprived area of Leeds, alone. […]
22 May 2025
Muslims Don’t Matter
Three grandfathers killed on the streets of England in three separate incidents. Each targeted simply for being Muslim; each attack a consequence of the insidious rise in Islamophobia in Britain. From the far-right violence that broke out in the summer of 2024 to the hatred directed at Muslims in public life during the Gaza conflict, anti-Muslim racism is dangerously out of control. […]
22 May 2025
Ancient India: living traditions
Ancient India was a dynamic, cosmopolitan centre of creativity. The visual traditions of its major indigenous religions – Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism – were closely interrelated, reflecting political power, changes in peoples’ daily lives and artistic innovation. Exported beyond the Indian subcontinent in antiquity, these three major religions are living traditions and their devotional works of art impact on the daily life of billions of people across the world. […]
Books out last year
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