Good Intentions by Kasim Ali
A heart-wrenching and beautifully told debut novel about love, family obligation and finding your way. Nur and Yasmina are in loveThey've been together for four happy yearsBut Nur's parents don't know that Yasmina exists As Nur's family counts down to midnight on New Year's Eve, Nur is watching the clock more closely than most: he has made a pact with himself, and with his girlfriend, Yasmina, that at midnight he will finally tell his Pakistani parents the truth. That he has spent years hiding his personal life from them to preserve his image as the golden child.
That he has built a life with a woman he loves and she is Black. Nur wants to be the good son his parents ask him to be, and the good boyfriend Yasmina needs him to be. But as everything he holds dear is challenged, he is forced to ask, is love really a choice for a second-generation immigrant son like him? Deftly exploring family obligation and racial prejudice alongside the flush of first love, Good Intentions is a captivating and powerful modern love story that announces a thrilling new voice in British fiction.
'Sensitive, smooth-toned and absorbingly honest' Diana Evans, author of Ordinary People 'A magnificent and messy love story that broke my heart' Huma Qureshi, author of How We Met
That he has built a life with a woman he loves and she is Black. Nur wants to be the good son his parents ask him to be, and the good boyfriend Yasmina needs him to be. But as everything he holds dear is challenged, he is forced to ask, is love really a choice for a second-generation immigrant son like him? Deftly exploring family obligation and racial prejudice alongside the flush of first love, Good Intentions is a captivating and powerful modern love story that announces a thrilling new voice in British fiction.
'Sensitive, smooth-toned and absorbingly honest' Diana Evans, author of Ordinary People 'A magnificent and messy love story that broke my heart' Huma Qureshi, author of How We Met