Tuesday 17 January 2017

The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain

The four Amir sisters – Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae – are the only young Muslims in the quaint English village of Wyvernage.

On the outside, despite not quite fitting in with their neighbours, the Amirs are happy. But on the inside, each sister is secretly struggling. 

Fatima is trying to find out who she really is – and after fifteen attempts, finally pass her driving test. Farah is happy being a wife but longs to be a mother. Bubblee is determined to be an artist in London, away from family tradition, and Mae is coping with burgeoning Youtube stardom. 

Yet when family tragedy strikes, it brings the Amir sisters closer together and forces them to learn more about life, love, faith and each other than they ever thought possible.


The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters is the debut novel by Nadiya Hussain. With an eye-catching colourful cover this book is sure to grab reader’s attention as it certainly caught my eye.

The storyline follows the four Amir Sisters and each chapter alternates between each sisters points of view. At the heart of the storyline we see the family all come together as one of the sister’s husband Mustafa is involved in a car accident leaving him fighting for his life in hospital. With tensions running high relationships between the sisters are strained and secrets are soon revealed but can this family pull together in their time of need?

This was a light easy read that gave us a little cultural insight which I loved. Each of the sisters were well developed and were easy to differentiate between and they each brought a little something to the storyline. Personally Fatti was my favourite character and I would have liked to have read more of her story in detail especially with her time in Bangladesh.

I did enjoy this book but I personally didn’t find enough depth to the storyline especially in the first half of the book, I was waiting for the storyline to take off but it never quite went anywhere.  If you are looking for a light read then this book will suit but I don’t feel that it is a book that will leave a lasting impression.


I feel that this is a good debut and I am interested to see how the authors writing develops in her next book I would love to see her descriptive writing develop to really bring things to life.

Hardback                 Kindle

1 comment:

  1. Been reading how this book was ghost written which has put me off reading it slightly.

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