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Amir Sisters #1
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters
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.
369 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 12, 2017
83 people are currently reading
1968 people want to read
About the author
Nadiya Hussain
51 books398 followersNadiya Hussain is a British baker, columnist, author and television presenter. The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters is her debut novel.
Hussain was born to a British Bangladeshi family in Luton, where she grew up. She developed her interest in cooking while at school and largely self-educated herself in cooking by reading recipe books and watching instructional videos on YouTube. She married and moved to Leeds, where she began studying for an Open University degree. In 2015 she appeared on the BBC's The Great British Bake Off and won the contest. She was subsequently invited to produce a cake for the 90th birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II and to present her own BBC documentary, The Chronicles of Nadiya.
Hussain is a columnist for The Times Magazine and Essentials magazine, has signed publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Hodder Children's Books, and Harlequin. She is also a regular reporter for The One Show and a guest panellist on Loose Women. Hussain was named by Debrett's as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK in 2016. Hussain was on BBC News' 100 Women list in 2016.
Hussain was born to a British Bangladeshi family in Luton, where she grew up. She developed her interest in cooking while at school and largely self-educated herself in cooking by reading recipe books and watching instructional videos on YouTube. She married and moved to Leeds, where she began studying for an Open University degree. In 2015 she appeared on the BBC's The Great British Bake Off and won the contest. She was subsequently invited to produce a cake for the 90th birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II and to present her own BBC documentary, The Chronicles of Nadiya.
Hussain is a columnist for The Times Magazine and Essentials magazine, has signed publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Hodder Children's Books, and Harlequin. She is also a regular reporter for The One Show and a guest panellist on Loose Women. Hussain was named by Debrett's as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK in 2016. Hussain was on BBC News' 100 Women list in 2016.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 199 reviews
February 7, 2017
I was really doing all I could to like this book. The first half is painfully slow with the same bland everyday themes repeating themselves over and over. Nothing really was happening? What was the story?
The latter half was somewhat improved but overall this is a very disappointing read. It's being published with high expectations on the author from an adoring public who are fans of her cooking books and Great British Bakeoff success. For those feats I say bravo! This lady can make a cake! Inspirational. That doesn't make you a novelist however.
Sadly the book lacks fizz, especially considering the title and in so many areas of this book were missed opportunities to make a scene really something. Whilst some of the characters were endearing they were also somewhat flat and lifeless. I wanted to be reading a modern day classic! I love women's fiction surrounding family dramas and personal relationships.I found this dull with no shine, the flow stilted. I nearly gave up during the first half.
I didn't enjoy my time with this novel despite wanting to like it. Hoping it would be fab. The author has no doubt put heart and soul into it (it does say it's written with another person at the front of the book?) but in comparison to much other women's fiction read this one didn't delight me one bit. 2 stars for what was a mediocre read. I'm interested to see how the public receive this book as more read it. I'm not the only one to find big parts of it dull so far.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, all opinions are entirely my own, totally honest and unbiased.
The latter half was somewhat improved but overall this is a very disappointing read. It's being published with high expectations on the author from an adoring public who are fans of her cooking books and Great British Bakeoff success. For those feats I say bravo! This lady can make a cake! Inspirational. That doesn't make you a novelist however.
Sadly the book lacks fizz, especially considering the title and in so many areas of this book were missed opportunities to make a scene really something. Whilst some of the characters were endearing they were also somewhat flat and lifeless. I wanted to be reading a modern day classic! I love women's fiction surrounding family dramas and personal relationships.I found this dull with no shine, the flow stilted. I nearly gave up during the first half.
I didn't enjoy my time with this novel despite wanting to like it. Hoping it would be fab. The author has no doubt put heart and soul into it (it does say it's written with another person at the front of the book?) but in comparison to much other women's fiction read this one didn't delight me one bit. 2 stars for what was a mediocre read. I'm interested to see how the public receive this book as more read it. I'm not the only one to find big parts of it dull so far.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, all opinions are entirely my own, totally honest and unbiased.
May 6, 2017
Firstly, let me make clear my bias. I am a lover of The Great British Bakeoff, and I'm still upset about the changes to the show coming for the next series and don't know how I feel about it, and one of our family favourites from the show was Nadiya, my Dad called it right at the start, he thought there was something about her and sure enough he was right. When I saw this book at the library there was very little chance I wasn't going to love it.
This book is told from the perspective of the four Amir Sisters, Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae, they live in a cute little English village, Wyvernage (I am assuming this is a made up village) the girls are four of the five children of Immigrant Bangladeshi parents who made the move to England when their eldest daughter Fatima was a baby. They are the only Bangladeshi's in the neighbourhood and have done there best to fit in.
Each of the girls are very different, Fatima the eldest is 30, still trying to get her drivers license and she works as a hand model ( this made me laugh so hard). Next there is Farah, she is married to her cousin and she loves her husband very much and she does her best to help and support everyone but doesn't let people in, she is feeling the pressure because they don't have a baby. Bubblee moved to London a few years ago and she is an artist who rejects the ways of the family, she wants be independent she doesn't believed in the defined gender roles of her parents and resents that her sister Farah has fallen into that trap and she could have had so much more. Finally we have the baby of the family, Mae. She is still at school and thinks she is the next big thing in Social Media, she has 5000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and records the everyday goings on of her family.
Each chapter of the book is told from the characters perspectives and switches as the book goes on. A family tragedy impacts the family and there quite happy family life is rocked, and it makes them all question what they think they know about the family they thought they knew so well. The story has a few twists and turns and each of the characters are fleshed out though with four characters and only 300 pages its hard to go to much detail but the story is well fleshed out and I was interested through out.
Nadiya had some help in writing the book from the wonderful Ayisha Malik and having read one of her books I could see that in this book, for a first book though it was enjoyable. Its a family comedy/drama/chicklit/womens fiction type read and I enjoyed it. I wanted a nice palate cleanser that didn't make me think to hard after finishing Exit West and this was a delight. I'm hoping that Nadiya will write another book featuring the Amir Family because there is certainly more going on there and I love me a big loud Bangladeshi family and this one is great.
3.5 Stars
More reviews on my blog https://mhmreadsandthings.wordpress.com
This book is told from the perspective of the four Amir Sisters, Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae, they live in a cute little English village, Wyvernage (I am assuming this is a made up village) the girls are four of the five children of Immigrant Bangladeshi parents who made the move to England when their eldest daughter Fatima was a baby. They are the only Bangladeshi's in the neighbourhood and have done there best to fit in.
Each of the girls are very different, Fatima the eldest is 30, still trying to get her drivers license and she works as a hand model ( this made me laugh so hard). Next there is Farah, she is married to her cousin and she loves her husband very much and she does her best to help and support everyone but doesn't let people in, she is feeling the pressure because they don't have a baby. Bubblee moved to London a few years ago and she is an artist who rejects the ways of the family, she wants be independent she doesn't believed in the defined gender roles of her parents and resents that her sister Farah has fallen into that trap and she could have had so much more. Finally we have the baby of the family, Mae. She is still at school and thinks she is the next big thing in Social Media, she has 5000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and records the everyday goings on of her family.
Each chapter of the book is told from the characters perspectives and switches as the book goes on. A family tragedy impacts the family and there quite happy family life is rocked, and it makes them all question what they think they know about the family they thought they knew so well. The story has a few twists and turns and each of the characters are fleshed out though with four characters and only 300 pages its hard to go to much detail but the story is well fleshed out and I was interested through out.
Nadiya had some help in writing the book from the wonderful Ayisha Malik and having read one of her books I could see that in this book, for a first book though it was enjoyable. Its a family comedy/drama/chicklit/womens fiction type read and I enjoyed it. I wanted a nice palate cleanser that didn't make me think to hard after finishing Exit West and this was a delight. I'm hoping that Nadiya will write another book featuring the Amir Family because there is certainly more going on there and I love me a big loud Bangladeshi family and this one is great.
3.5 Stars
More reviews on my blog https://mhmreadsandthings.wordpress.com
June 9, 2021
Light and frothy, with wonderfully illustrated, totally familiar dysfunction in each member of the Amir family.
May 3, 2022
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters was surprisingly never on my radar until recently. I think that's the amazing thing about participating in challenges within Goodreads. One can never run out of options for books to dive into and that's why I decided to jump into this one.
In this, you will meet four sisters who live in a small English village. Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae are young Muslim girls just trying to find a way to live their life. On the outside, they seem happy but on the inside they aren't. Looks can always be deceiving and I was very intrigued to see how these four young ladies will grow and adapt throughout the book.
Fatima struggles with driving and by that, I mean she's on her fifteenth attempt to pass her driving test. Yikes. Now while I can't relate with her on that (I passed on my first try) she did remind me of my brother. He never passed his test and doesn't have a driver's license even today. Then there's Farah who is sort of happy being a wife but really wants kids. As for me? Well, I have zero desire to be married or have kids so yeah, couldn't relate but wanted her dreams to come true.
Besides those two, we have Bubblee and Mae. Now these two are determined and dream of being an artist in London and a YouTube star. I definitely liked each sister because they brought something different to the book. They all had pros and cons that made them feel realistic and easy to relate to. I also really liked how I got to know more about Bangladeshi roots throughout this. Mostly because I do have friends from that area and it's always interesting to hear about.
In the end, this was a fun book to read. The drama was also interesting because we got to see how it affected each member and how they dealt with it. Their struggles, relationships, and everything else was just very easy to digest. I'm not sure what the next book will be about but if I can find it, I'll jump into it.
In this, you will meet four sisters who live in a small English village. Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae are young Muslim girls just trying to find a way to live their life. On the outside, they seem happy but on the inside they aren't. Looks can always be deceiving and I was very intrigued to see how these four young ladies will grow and adapt throughout the book.
Fatima struggles with driving and by that, I mean she's on her fifteenth attempt to pass her driving test. Yikes. Now while I can't relate with her on that (I passed on my first try) she did remind me of my brother. He never passed his test and doesn't have a driver's license even today. Then there's Farah who is sort of happy being a wife but really wants kids. As for me? Well, I have zero desire to be married or have kids so yeah, couldn't relate but wanted her dreams to come true.
Besides those two, we have Bubblee and Mae. Now these two are determined and dream of being an artist in London and a YouTube star. I definitely liked each sister because they brought something different to the book. They all had pros and cons that made them feel realistic and easy to relate to. I also really liked how I got to know more about Bangladeshi roots throughout this. Mostly because I do have friends from that area and it's always interesting to hear about.
In the end, this was a fun book to read. The drama was also interesting because we got to see how it affected each member and how they dealt with it. Their struggles, relationships, and everything else was just very easy to digest. I'm not sure what the next book will be about but if I can find it, I'll jump into it.
January 30, 2019
If the primary author’s name sounds familiar, she is the Nadiya from Great British Baking. This is her first novel, and it was written with Ayisha Malik.
The book centers on four sisters – Fatima, Bubblee, Farah, and Mae. Bubblee and Farah are twins. The title is somewhat misleading as what secrets there are not really the sister’s (honesty, the one you think might be Bubblee’s never shows) but those of their family. Additionally, the book is almost wrapped about too neatly – though a couple plot threads are left, satisfying loose. There are a couple places where you are wondering – wow, really would that happen – but not too many.
There is, however, a charm about the book. Some of that has to done with the fact that Hussain doesn’t really seem to think that the reader will consider the plot twists as twists or surprises. So, there is no “see, I great the author has tricked you” feeling that is especially annoying when the author has not in fact tricked you. None of that.
But the bulk of the charm rests on the sisters. With the possible exception of Farah, all the sisters are well drawn. Their interactions are beautifully rendered. Even the supporting characters – from the nudist neighbors to the father who puts hedge cuttings in the smoothie – have life. You read the book for the characters and not the plot. It is almost like watching a nice little series on the tv.
Is it the deepest novel I have ever read? No. But it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
The book centers on four sisters – Fatima, Bubblee, Farah, and Mae. Bubblee and Farah are twins. The title is somewhat misleading as what secrets there are not really the sister’s (honesty, the one you think might be Bubblee’s never shows) but those of their family. Additionally, the book is almost wrapped about too neatly – though a couple plot threads are left, satisfying loose. There are a couple places where you are wondering – wow, really would that happen – but not too many.
There is, however, a charm about the book. Some of that has to done with the fact that Hussain doesn’t really seem to think that the reader will consider the plot twists as twists or surprises. So, there is no “see, I great the author has tricked you” feeling that is especially annoying when the author has not in fact tricked you. None of that.
But the bulk of the charm rests on the sisters. With the possible exception of Farah, all the sisters are well drawn. Their interactions are beautifully rendered. Even the supporting characters – from the nudist neighbors to the father who puts hedge cuttings in the smoothie – have life. You read the book for the characters and not the plot. It is almost like watching a nice little series on the tv.
Is it the deepest novel I have ever read? No. But it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
February 7, 2017
I loved Ayisha Malik's Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, I loved Nadiya Hussain on Bake Off, and so for me this book represents a total dream team of Muslim female talent. That in itself feels like something special, and much-needed, and happily what they've produced is a story that's a lovely look at the life of a British Muslim family. It's gentle and sweet, and I had a great time reading it. In a market that's full of books about the lives of white middle-class women, the Amirs make a wonderful change. More like this, please. 12+
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*
January 29, 2024
Cheestastically good!
⚠️Trigger ⚠️ warning:
It vaguely reminds me of a Pride & Prejudice remix, but I think that’s just because of the four sister aspects. On the other hand, I’m always excited when they put Mary back into the narrative. So, I totes magoats recommend this book to anyone who loves a cheesy rom com type book.
⚠️Trigger ⚠️ warning:
It vaguely reminds me of a Pride & Prejudice remix, but I think that’s just because of the four sister aspects. On the other hand, I’m always excited when they put Mary back into the narrative. So, I totes magoats recommend this book to anyone who loves a cheesy rom com type book.
June 13, 2020
Where to begin...
Would you give up your daughter to your sister to raise as hers?
Do you see and understand the gap between generations in our families?
How far would you let tradition be, in the face of your own happiness.
Can you forgive...and keep loving, living. Them. Self.
This is a touching story of family, sisters and kinship.
The Amir sisters- Fatima, Farah, Bublee and Mae- bring to light life struggles and how dominant they can be when not addressed or lived through. One sister is adored by all, but she's not their biological sibling. One is dedicated to being a supportive wife and daughter. One is the black sheep. One is thought too young, hence always ordered around. Then there's the only prodigal but absent brother- Never calls, never visits.
Typical of there's only enough dirt you can sweep under a carpet...soon or later secrets come out.
You can't tell it's the author's first attempt at writing cause it flows just right. Had me in tears, emotional.
Would you give up your daughter to your sister to raise as hers?
Do you see and understand the gap between generations in our families?
How far would you let tradition be, in the face of your own happiness.
Can you forgive...and keep loving, living. Them. Self.
This is a touching story of family, sisters and kinship.
The Amir sisters- Fatima, Farah, Bublee and Mae- bring to light life struggles and how dominant they can be when not addressed or lived through. One sister is adored by all, but she's not their biological sibling. One is dedicated to being a supportive wife and daughter. One is the black sheep. One is thought too young, hence always ordered around. Then there's the only prodigal but absent brother- Never calls, never visits.
Typical of there's only enough dirt you can sweep under a carpet...soon or later secrets come out.
You can't tell it's the author's first attempt at writing cause it flows just right. Had me in tears, emotional.
October 2, 2017
I really wanted to like this book. But there was so much going on plot wise, it made it difficult to connect with the characters or care about what was happening to them. It reminded me of the problems of "The Other Half of Happiness" by Ayisha Malik because the downside of that book was that so much was happening, it was difficult to hold onto the plot.
June 15, 2017
Lightning review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
One of the important things that books do for us is provide a window into other lives. What Nadiya Hussain does in her debut novel is give us a window into a Bangladeshi family that lives in a small village in England, with four daughters (and a son) and a number of secrets.
What I liked about this is how normal this family was in all of their messiness. There’s some melodrama, and some of it derives from their Bangladeshi roots, but most of it is caused by the ordinary messiness of people and their lives. We see the story from the point of view of each sister, so we get to see how each reacts to being the hero of her own story. Some are supremely confident as protagonists, and others are not at ALL. As someone who struggles with writing more than one PoV, I was very impressed with how clearly drawn each sister was.
Nadiya Hussain is most well-known around these parts as the winner of season 6 of the Great British Bake Off, and here she uses her visibility to show people a window into the lives of immigrants from her community. Like her, it’s warm and funny, but with depth and purpose.
- Redheadedgirl
One of the important things that books do for us is provide a window into other lives. What Nadiya Hussain does in her debut novel is give us a window into a Bangladeshi family that lives in a small village in England, with four daughters (and a son) and a number of secrets.
What I liked about this is how normal this family was in all of their messiness. There’s some melodrama, and some of it derives from their Bangladeshi roots, but most of it is caused by the ordinary messiness of people and their lives. We see the story from the point of view of each sister, so we get to see how each reacts to being the hero of her own story. Some are supremely confident as protagonists, and others are not at ALL. As someone who struggles with writing more than one PoV, I was very impressed with how clearly drawn each sister was.
Nadiya Hussain is most well-known around these parts as the winner of season 6 of the Great British Bake Off, and here she uses her visibility to show people a window into the lives of immigrants from her community. Like her, it’s warm and funny, but with depth and purpose.
- Redheadedgirl
May 18, 2018
Unbelievably slow book. There was absolutely no resolution, and overall a big disappointment. I liked the concept of a muslim family and the things they get up to, but secret lives? What secret lives? I think this book wanted to be complex but it fell flat.
Give it a miss.
Give it a miss.
August 11, 2018
Light and heart warming. it was so easy to relate to the characters.
January 28, 2019
Imagine every possible South Asian family stereotype you can, throw them all together and you'll get this book.
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters tells the story of a Muslim British Bangladeshi family and how they get by in their quiet English village. Narrated through the voices of four sisters of varying ages, framed by their contrasting and sometimes clashing personalities we get a glimpse into their daily lives.
Yes this book is full of clichés and drama, and I did find that the story dragged at times but it was an entertaining read nonetheless. What I really loved was the relationships of the various characters within the story, and the overall message which was beautifully represented of what it means to be family.
Final Rating – 3.5/5 stars
{#YARC2019}
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters tells the story of a Muslim British Bangladeshi family and how they get by in their quiet English village. Narrated through the voices of four sisters of varying ages, framed by their contrasting and sometimes clashing personalities we get a glimpse into their daily lives.
Yes this book is full of clichés and drama, and I did find that the story dragged at times but it was an entertaining read nonetheless. What I really loved was the relationships of the various characters within the story, and the overall message which was beautifully represented of what it means to be family.
Final Rating – 3.5/5 stars
{#YARC2019}
July 29, 2017
Surprisingly enjoyable read full of family drama. But then again, I enjoyed Ayisha Malik's "Sofia Khan" book!
November 9, 2025
Lovely story by Nadiya. really enjoyable read.
February 12, 2017
I love Nadiya Hussain. If you are a fan of The Great British Bake Off, you probably love her too. Nadiya was the winner in 2015, and she is, by all accounts the most popular winner in the history of the show. Charming, warm, funny, self-deprecating and gifted with a marvelously expressive face, she made all of us fall in love with her.
Since winning TGBBO, Nadiya has published a cookbook (which I received as a surprise present last week from a lovely friend who lives in England), presented a TV show, baked a cake for the Queen, and appeared in several talk shows. And now she has written a novel! I only found out last week because of a nasty review published by The Guardian that I’m not even going to talk about. But when I found out Nadiya had written a novel and that the blurb described it as “a kind of updated Asian Little Women“, this was literally my reaction:
Long story short, I found the Kindle version on Amazon, bought it, started reading it on Sunday and finished it the following day. I LOVED IT! The novel is called The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters and it’s about, you guessed it, the Amir sisters: Fatima (aka Fatti), twins Bubblee and Farah, and Mae.
Fatti is the eldest. She’s about 30 and lives at home. She’s very shy, does hand modelling, and is trying to pass her driving test. For the 15th time. Fatti loves cheese that comes in a tube, and prawns. And cheese with prawns on crackers. Maybe I am imagining the wrong kind of cheese but this sounded a bit strange to me.
Farah (about 28) is married to a nice Bangladeshi guy. They live nearby and seem to lead a very comfortable and quiet life. Farah is very involved in her family’s life, she helps a lot around her parents’ house, often does the shopping and runs errands for them.
Bubblee, Farah’s twin, is the black sheep of the family (in her own words). She’s an artist, a sculptor, and lives in London on her own. Which seems to be unheard of in very traditional Bangladeshi families. Bubblee is not very close to her family, she doesn’t visit or call often, and she strongly and vocally disapproves of Farah’s choice of husband.
Mae is the youngest. She’s still in high school and is obsessed with social media. She’s working on a project and she films absolutely everything that happens in her family. Which of course will come back to bite her in the a**.
There’s also a brother, Jay, but he’s not really around. He’s not a very good son or brother but he’s the only boy and mom and dad think the world of him.
The Amir family lives a quiet and pretty happy life in a small town in England (I think near Manchester but don’t quote me on that) until there’s an accident and things begin to unravel. Someone ends up in the hospital and secrets old and new come to light, thanks in part to the presence of a cousin from Bangladesh who arrives for an unexpected visit.
The sisters all cope with the events in their own particular way. Being an only child, I am forever fascinated by books about sisters, like Little Women, Pride and Prejudice or The Makioka Sisters. The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters is a wonderful addition to this genre. It’s a sweet, gentle novel about a lovely family. It has very funny moments and also heartbreaking moments. Someone falls in love but that is not the focus of the story, it really is all about the sisters and what makes us family.
Five stars. I hope Nadiya continues to write fiction.
PS (Nadiya wrote the book with British author Ayisha Malik)
Since winning TGBBO, Nadiya has published a cookbook (which I received as a surprise present last week from a lovely friend who lives in England), presented a TV show, baked a cake for the Queen, and appeared in several talk shows. And now she has written a novel! I only found out last week because of a nasty review published by The Guardian that I’m not even going to talk about. But when I found out Nadiya had written a novel and that the blurb described it as “a kind of updated Asian Little Women“, this was literally my reaction:
Long story short, I found the Kindle version on Amazon, bought it, started reading it on Sunday and finished it the following day. I LOVED IT! The novel is called The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters and it’s about, you guessed it, the Amir sisters: Fatima (aka Fatti), twins Bubblee and Farah, and Mae.
Fatti is the eldest. She’s about 30 and lives at home. She’s very shy, does hand modelling, and is trying to pass her driving test. For the 15th time. Fatti loves cheese that comes in a tube, and prawns. And cheese with prawns on crackers. Maybe I am imagining the wrong kind of cheese but this sounded a bit strange to me.
Farah (about 28) is married to a nice Bangladeshi guy. They live nearby and seem to lead a very comfortable and quiet life. Farah is very involved in her family’s life, she helps a lot around her parents’ house, often does the shopping and runs errands for them.
Bubblee, Farah’s twin, is the black sheep of the family (in her own words). She’s an artist, a sculptor, and lives in London on her own. Which seems to be unheard of in very traditional Bangladeshi families. Bubblee is not very close to her family, she doesn’t visit or call often, and she strongly and vocally disapproves of Farah’s choice of husband.
Mae is the youngest. She’s still in high school and is obsessed with social media. She’s working on a project and she films absolutely everything that happens in her family. Which of course will come back to bite her in the a**.
There’s also a brother, Jay, but he’s not really around. He’s not a very good son or brother but he’s the only boy and mom and dad think the world of him.
The Amir family lives a quiet and pretty happy life in a small town in England (I think near Manchester but don’t quote me on that) until there’s an accident and things begin to unravel. Someone ends up in the hospital and secrets old and new come to light, thanks in part to the presence of a cousin from Bangladesh who arrives for an unexpected visit.
The sisters all cope with the events in their own particular way. Being an only child, I am forever fascinated by books about sisters, like Little Women, Pride and Prejudice or The Makioka Sisters. The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters is a wonderful addition to this genre. It’s a sweet, gentle novel about a lovely family. It has very funny moments and also heartbreaking moments. Someone falls in love but that is not the focus of the story, it really is all about the sisters and what makes us family.
Five stars. I hope Nadiya continues to write fiction.
PS (Nadiya wrote the book with British author Ayisha Malik)
June 30, 2017
I really enjoyed this book, and found it gave me an interesting insight to a Bangladeshi family that lives in England, and its a fusion of Easts meets West.
The Amir sisters are all very different people, and the narrative is split into all four of the sisters, for a chapter focusing on each at a time. The one thing they all have in common is they don't tell their parent's everything and all seem just a bit frustrated about how their brother appears to be the favourite at all times, despite being male.
There is Fatima who is the eldest sister, she still lives at home, and is determined she may eventually pass her driving test. She also appears to be addicted to squeezy cheese, and isn't really sure of her own identity. Then there are twins Farah and Bubblee. Farah is married to Mo, and is the daughter to tries to do the most for her parents and her family, but she is hiding things from her family. Bubblee doesn't always see eye to eye anymore with Farah and lives in London, and is more of a feminist. Lastly there is Mae, the baby of the family, who is still at school but also is doing wonders with her social media project. Mae can always be found recording her family, at least until she posts something to her blog that takes off overnight!
However when disaster hits for the family they all need to pull together and with it, so many secrets and shocks come out into the open over the course of the book. Some of them I was able to guess slightly ahead of time, but I still liked seeing how the sisters rose to various occasions.
Their parents are rather traditional, and arguably stereotypical, especially when it comes to constantly trying to make sure their daughters get married or have children. Early on I noticed I was giggling quite often at the dialogue, and I really enjoyed reading a family experience that is so different in some respects to my own, but equally that I could see some big similarities with my own religion.
This was a story that really spoke to me, and has some great messages within it. I am looking forward to getting stuck into other books by the real author of this book.
The Amir sisters are all very different people, and the narrative is split into all four of the sisters, for a chapter focusing on each at a time. The one thing they all have in common is they don't tell their parent's everything and all seem just a bit frustrated about how their brother appears to be the favourite at all times, despite being male.
There is Fatima who is the eldest sister, she still lives at home, and is determined she may eventually pass her driving test. She also appears to be addicted to squeezy cheese, and isn't really sure of her own identity. Then there are twins Farah and Bubblee. Farah is married to Mo, and is the daughter to tries to do the most for her parents and her family, but she is hiding things from her family. Bubblee doesn't always see eye to eye anymore with Farah and lives in London, and is more of a feminist. Lastly there is Mae, the baby of the family, who is still at school but also is doing wonders with her social media project. Mae can always be found recording her family, at least until she posts something to her blog that takes off overnight!
However when disaster hits for the family they all need to pull together and with it, so many secrets and shocks come out into the open over the course of the book. Some of them I was able to guess slightly ahead of time, but I still liked seeing how the sisters rose to various occasions.
Their parents are rather traditional, and arguably stereotypical, especially when it comes to constantly trying to make sure their daughters get married or have children. Early on I noticed I was giggling quite often at the dialogue, and I really enjoyed reading a family experience that is so different in some respects to my own, but equally that I could see some big similarities with my own religion.
This was a story that really spoke to me, and has some great messages within it. I am looking forward to getting stuck into other books by the real author of this book.
January 14, 2017
I approached this story with trepidation: Nadiya Hussain is an engaging, charming and likeable person on TV, but that does not mean she can tell a story and not all celebrities can write. I was relieved to find myself quickly immersed and engrossed in the secret lives of the Amir sisters (from the only brown family in the small community of Wyvernage). The book explores themes of identity, family, love, culture and expectations. A major crisis has repercussions for each of the sisters as secrets are revealed which shake the whole family to the core, and all of them must change. The sisters are all interesting and likeable, the story is fascinating and very well crafted, and there is plenty to think about. It is a very good read.
In the acknowledgements at the end, Nadiya gives thanks to her writer. It is an excellent collaboration.
In the acknowledgements at the end, Nadiya gives thanks to her writer. It is an excellent collaboration.
May 18, 2020
Just so hard to read. First of, I believe the title (and cover) is really misleading: the book is not a colourful story of life of four sisters, it is a family drama and a very depressing one at that. There were no secrets to write home about, none that any of the girls were keeping anyway. And while the book is written from the perspective of four girls there is inordinate focus on the two male characters.
What disappointed me the most, however, was that the girls were shown to be extremely compliant: even the most hard-core rebel was bending by the end. All three adult girls were securely attached to three men in the end.
What disappointed me the most, however, was that the girls were shown to be extremely compliant: even the most hard-core rebel was bending by the end. All three adult girls were securely attached to three men in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2018
I loved this book. Usually South Asian narratives really strike my fancy and this is a story about a Bengali family whose mindset is a lot like that of Pakistanis. There are four sisters, one's an artistic feminist, her twin has a contrasting personality, a softie eldest who is over nurtured and overfed, and the youngest is a social media fanatic. Each have chapters unto themselves and the story moves with a brilliant pace.
February 6, 2017
Nadiya Hussain was the popular winner of The Great British Bake Off two years ago and endeared herself to the nation. She has written some cookbooks and even made her own documentary charting her journey back to India which proved to make for very enjoyable viewing. Now she is turning her hand to fiction with Ayisha Malik whom it was nice to see get a mention within the introductory pages. I think there is nothing worse than 'celebs' writing books and passing them off as their own when there has been little input at all. Here though I didn't get the sense that everything was left to Ayisha rather that Nadiya knew the story she wanted to tell and how the characters and storylines should develop.
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters follows a dysfunctional but lovable family exploring faith and identity and how keeping secrets is not in any way good at all as slowly things start to bubble to the surface. In fact the Amir family are the only Muslim family in their small village of Wyvernage. I had never read a book before featuring an Indian family living in the UK. I had read plenty of books set in India that fall into the historical fiction genre but this was a new kind of read for me and despite there being a few lulls in places overall I really enjoyed this book. I hadn't been expecting that much from it but one couldn't fail to get caught up in the lives of the four sisters – Fatima, Farrah, Bublee and Mae. The story is told through the viewpoints of each sister in alternating chapters. I think this was the best way to tell this story as it didn't become one dimensional and we got to see the same situation from many sides as things began to develop.
Fatima or Fatti as she is nicknamed by her sisters (which truthfully was infuriating for me) is the eldest sister. She hates leaving her room, she is not a happy person and stuffs her face with prawns and tubes of Primula cheese at every opportunity yet this has to be done in secret for the most part. Fatima is piling on the weight and faces a daily battle in her heart and mind. She knows things need to change and things can't go on the way they are. She should be married with a family of her own particularly as she is the eldest daughter. There is a running joke within the family that she fails her driving test all the time and several family members seem to put her down. Fatti has an overwhelming sense of not belonging, that she is on the outskirts of everything and merely looking in. Then Fatima discovers something that may well change everything both on a personal and family level. Is she willing to accept what she has discovered or will she carry on the way she has been? I felt desperately sorry for Fatima at all points throughout the story. Many of us can understand her struggle with weight although not to the extent we have tubes of Primula cheese on stand by. I felt her family just took Fatima for granted, they viewed it as being laughable her weight gain and how she relied on food. Her mother appeared to be the typical Indian mammy wanting to feed her up and smooth over the existing issues without really dealing with them. It was clear they needed to be more open. Yet at the same time when we get inside Fatima's head when she is on her own I found her to be raw, honest and open about how she was feeling I only wished she could be the same person when with her family and vocalise what was running through her head.
Mae is the youngest member of the family and perhaps my favourite. She was sharp, witty and said things like she saw it with no filter which at times got her into trouble. She is very health conscious, which is in direct contrast to Fatima, and she did inflict her views regarding health a bit too much on other people. She documents the family's life on social media and always has her phone in her hand uploading the latest news or titbits of info. I felt Mae was often forgotten or taken for granted. She was always there at every pivotal point in the story and observed things quietly things that others didn't pick up on at all. Mae was funny and never held back in anyway even if she didn't say things to her family it certainly was recorded on social media for all to see. Again despite being underestimated by many she was a great character who was clever and easy to like and played an important role within the story.
Bublee is 28 and an artist who specialises in sculpture, she was the one who wanted to be different from all the other family members. She moved away to London which was a wrench considering she would be away from her twin Farah. The relationship between herself and Farah has broken down since Farah married her first cousin Mo. I didn't like Bubblee at all I felt she was just very selfish and stuck in her opinions and there was no way of changing them. OK she was a twin and didn't like the direction Farah had chosen, or the choices she had made, but I felt like saying get over it she is your sister and we have to appreciate and respect our siblings choices although we may not always agree with it. When push came to show though Bubblee did step up and slowly began to loosen and warm up a bit but I never did really warm to her character. I suppose you can't really like every person you read about it in a book, there has to be that someone who just does something or comes across in a certain way that makes you hold back that little bit in fully embracing their character.
The final sister is Bubblee's twin Farah who married her first cousin Mo. To me she was the backbone of the family and so selfless, always putting others needs before her own. She did everything for everybody without question and without reward or compliment and was taken for granted in my opinion. I saw a little bit of myself in her. Her parents didn't see all she did for them and what secrets she was hiding in particular with golden child their son 'Jay'. He made brief appearances in the book over halfway through and up until that point he was always referred to in awe and reverence .He was like the prodigal son and he could do no wrong in his parents eyes. In fact all this praise and fawning over Jay was very annoying and so wrong considering the wonderful children the Amir parents also had. I suppose it is often the way in families, one child gets all the credit or praise without actually doing anything and it's those who are silent and the backbone and do things without question that get overlooked. Farah like her sisters had her own secrets and problems to hide and it's only when a specific incident occurs that the family are forced to reassess everything. They begin to sit up and take notice as things come to light and the perfect façade of this wonderful Bangladeshi family begins to shatter. The only question is, with everything spilling forth, can the family go back to the unit they claim to be or will things irrevocably change for the better or for the worse?
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters was a nice, enjoyable read and proved to provide much more of a story than I had expected. It gave the reader a good insight into a family at a turning point in their lives. I thought I would get all muddled with the sisters and chapters from different viewpoints but I didn't and I felt the story flowed well for the most part. There were one or two points where I was truly surprised with the revelations coming to the forefront and there had been brief allusions but I was glad I hadn't worked them out until the point of reveal. The book was good given it was a 'celeb' writing it and I do hope Nadiya will write more books in the future. This wasn't 100% perfect by any means but I do think it is well worth a read particularly if you want to mix up genres after having read say a number of serious books or light hearted romance as this offered a nice balance between the two. This book mightn’t feature in my top reads come the end of 2017 but it has highlighted that the author has great potential and I'll be keen to see what she may write in the future.
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters follows a dysfunctional but lovable family exploring faith and identity and how keeping secrets is not in any way good at all as slowly things start to bubble to the surface. In fact the Amir family are the only Muslim family in their small village of Wyvernage. I had never read a book before featuring an Indian family living in the UK. I had read plenty of books set in India that fall into the historical fiction genre but this was a new kind of read for me and despite there being a few lulls in places overall I really enjoyed this book. I hadn't been expecting that much from it but one couldn't fail to get caught up in the lives of the four sisters – Fatima, Farrah, Bublee and Mae. The story is told through the viewpoints of each sister in alternating chapters. I think this was the best way to tell this story as it didn't become one dimensional and we got to see the same situation from many sides as things began to develop.
Fatima or Fatti as she is nicknamed by her sisters (which truthfully was infuriating for me) is the eldest sister. She hates leaving her room, she is not a happy person and stuffs her face with prawns and tubes of Primula cheese at every opportunity yet this has to be done in secret for the most part. Fatima is piling on the weight and faces a daily battle in her heart and mind. She knows things need to change and things can't go on the way they are. She should be married with a family of her own particularly as she is the eldest daughter. There is a running joke within the family that she fails her driving test all the time and several family members seem to put her down. Fatti has an overwhelming sense of not belonging, that she is on the outskirts of everything and merely looking in. Then Fatima discovers something that may well change everything both on a personal and family level. Is she willing to accept what she has discovered or will she carry on the way she has been? I felt desperately sorry for Fatima at all points throughout the story. Many of us can understand her struggle with weight although not to the extent we have tubes of Primula cheese on stand by. I felt her family just took Fatima for granted, they viewed it as being laughable her weight gain and how she relied on food. Her mother appeared to be the typical Indian mammy wanting to feed her up and smooth over the existing issues without really dealing with them. It was clear they needed to be more open. Yet at the same time when we get inside Fatima's head when she is on her own I found her to be raw, honest and open about how she was feeling I only wished she could be the same person when with her family and vocalise what was running through her head.
Mae is the youngest member of the family and perhaps my favourite. She was sharp, witty and said things like she saw it with no filter which at times got her into trouble. She is very health conscious, which is in direct contrast to Fatima, and she did inflict her views regarding health a bit too much on other people. She documents the family's life on social media and always has her phone in her hand uploading the latest news or titbits of info. I felt Mae was often forgotten or taken for granted. She was always there at every pivotal point in the story and observed things quietly things that others didn't pick up on at all. Mae was funny and never held back in anyway even if she didn't say things to her family it certainly was recorded on social media for all to see. Again despite being underestimated by many she was a great character who was clever and easy to like and played an important role within the story.
Bublee is 28 and an artist who specialises in sculpture, she was the one who wanted to be different from all the other family members. She moved away to London which was a wrench considering she would be away from her twin Farah. The relationship between herself and Farah has broken down since Farah married her first cousin Mo. I didn't like Bubblee at all I felt she was just very selfish and stuck in her opinions and there was no way of changing them. OK she was a twin and didn't like the direction Farah had chosen, or the choices she had made, but I felt like saying get over it she is your sister and we have to appreciate and respect our siblings choices although we may not always agree with it. When push came to show though Bubblee did step up and slowly began to loosen and warm up a bit but I never did really warm to her character. I suppose you can't really like every person you read about it in a book, there has to be that someone who just does something or comes across in a certain way that makes you hold back that little bit in fully embracing their character.
The final sister is Bubblee's twin Farah who married her first cousin Mo. To me she was the backbone of the family and so selfless, always putting others needs before her own. She did everything for everybody without question and without reward or compliment and was taken for granted in my opinion. I saw a little bit of myself in her. Her parents didn't see all she did for them and what secrets she was hiding in particular with golden child their son 'Jay'. He made brief appearances in the book over halfway through and up until that point he was always referred to in awe and reverence .He was like the prodigal son and he could do no wrong in his parents eyes. In fact all this praise and fawning over Jay was very annoying and so wrong considering the wonderful children the Amir parents also had. I suppose it is often the way in families, one child gets all the credit or praise without actually doing anything and it's those who are silent and the backbone and do things without question that get overlooked. Farah like her sisters had her own secrets and problems to hide and it's only when a specific incident occurs that the family are forced to reassess everything. They begin to sit up and take notice as things come to light and the perfect façade of this wonderful Bangladeshi family begins to shatter. The only question is, with everything spilling forth, can the family go back to the unit they claim to be or will things irrevocably change for the better or for the worse?
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters was a nice, enjoyable read and proved to provide much more of a story than I had expected. It gave the reader a good insight into a family at a turning point in their lives. I thought I would get all muddled with the sisters and chapters from different viewpoints but I didn't and I felt the story flowed well for the most part. There were one or two points where I was truly surprised with the revelations coming to the forefront and there had been brief allusions but I was glad I hadn't worked them out until the point of reveal. The book was good given it was a 'celeb' writing it and I do hope Nadiya will write more books in the future. This wasn't 100% perfect by any means but I do think it is well worth a read particularly if you want to mix up genres after having read say a number of serious books or light hearted romance as this offered a nice balance between the two. This book mightn’t feature in my top reads come the end of 2017 but it has highlighted that the author has great potential and I'll be keen to see what she may write in the future.
March 28, 2020
As one of three sisters, I have always loved stories about sisters. Little Women has always been a favorite of mine as I could see me and my sisters in their stories.
Reading "The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters" felt similar. Unlike in Little Women, the Amir sisters are (almost) all adults, like my sisters and I are now, and their relationships, their simultaneous closeness and distance, felt very familiar. I enjoyed the way the perspectives shifted from one chapter to the next, allowing the reader to see each sister from their own perspective as well as that of their sisters. What feels so right to one person may be confusing or straight up upsetting to someone else, and people who think they are the ones with clarity don't even know the perspective they are lacking. Through this back and forth between characters, I came to care a lot for each individual sister as they deal with a family tragedy in their different ways.
I know (as this book shows constantly) that people have different experiences and perspectives that inform their opinions. Still, I feel puzzled and even irritated by some of the negative reviews I've read. Everything from "the characters felt cliche" to the quotation on the book cover saying the book shows Nadiya Hussain to be "more than just a dab hand with a piping bag," as though there is any "just" about her creative abilities (not to mention undermining the incredible emotional journey we saw unfold in GBBO Season 6.) It feels like many readers have missed the point of the book and the relatability of its characters.
My only complaint is a little quibble about story structure. The solution Fatti comes up with towards the end (trying to keep this vague) felt like it could have used more foreshadowing, as it all seemed very sudden and not really tied to anything that had happened previously. But I suppose life doesn't always involve foreshadowing, and some ideas do spring up out of nowhere, so it's a fault I'm inclined to forgive.
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters took me I think four days to read (I usually take at least two weeks to read something no matter how long or short it is) because, even when not much was "happening" (as one reviewer complained about), the private thoughts and the complex relationships of the characters kept the story moving forward for me, compelling to me towards the end to see where everyone would end up. The story may not have a lot of "action" movement, but there is a great deal of emotional movement which I think is why, in the end, I enjoyed it so much. (That, and I just love stories about sisters.)
I was excited to see there are two more books following this one, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of each. I want more of the Amir sisters!
Reading "The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters" felt similar. Unlike in Little Women, the Amir sisters are (almost) all adults, like my sisters and I are now, and their relationships, their simultaneous closeness and distance, felt very familiar. I enjoyed the way the perspectives shifted from one chapter to the next, allowing the reader to see each sister from their own perspective as well as that of their sisters. What feels so right to one person may be confusing or straight up upsetting to someone else, and people who think they are the ones with clarity don't even know the perspective they are lacking. Through this back and forth between characters, I came to care a lot for each individual sister as they deal with a family tragedy in their different ways.
I know (as this book shows constantly) that people have different experiences and perspectives that inform their opinions. Still, I feel puzzled and even irritated by some of the negative reviews I've read. Everything from "the characters felt cliche" to the quotation on the book cover saying the book shows Nadiya Hussain to be "more than just a dab hand with a piping bag," as though there is any "just" about her creative abilities (not to mention undermining the incredible emotional journey we saw unfold in GBBO Season 6.) It feels like many readers have missed the point of the book and the relatability of its characters.
My only complaint is a little quibble about story structure. The solution Fatti comes up with towards the end (trying to keep this vague) felt like it could have used more foreshadowing, as it all seemed very sudden and not really tied to anything that had happened previously. But I suppose life doesn't always involve foreshadowing, and some ideas do spring up out of nowhere, so it's a fault I'm inclined to forgive.
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters took me I think four days to read (I usually take at least two weeks to read something no matter how long or short it is) because, even when not much was "happening" (as one reviewer complained about), the private thoughts and the complex relationships of the characters kept the story moving forward for me, compelling to me towards the end to see where everyone would end up. The story may not have a lot of "action" movement, but there is a great deal of emotional movement which I think is why, in the end, I enjoyed it so much. (That, and I just love stories about sisters.)
I was excited to see there are two more books following this one, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of each. I want more of the Amir sisters!
May 23, 2022
My wife and I have been huge fans of Nadiya Hussain ever since her appearance on “The Great British Bake Off”, watching her bloom from someone who doubted everything she was doing into some with a huge amount of confidence and personality. We were fortunate to meet her at an appearance not long after she won the series and every cookery book she has written is on a shelf somewhere in our home, so when she branched out into novel writing, it was inevitable that we would end up reading “The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters”. Whilst we knew there wouldn’t be tasty treats at the end of the novel the way there usually is with her books, the sparkle that seems to dominate her every move was likely to be present in the book, which would make it a decent read.
There are 4 Amir sisters, Fatima, Farah and Bubblee, the twins and Mae, the youngest. They all live completely different lives, with Fatima still living with her parents, although spending her life largely hiding in her room and emerging only to eat badly and fail her driving test. Farah lives nearby with her husband with whom she has just found out she can’t have children, but hasn’t told her parents who are desperate for grandchildren. Bubblee has escaped their town to London, where she is living the life of an artist, waiting for her breakthrough and wondering why her twin has settled for a boring, mundane existence. Mae is the youngest and documents everything for a school project.
All their lives are turned upside down when Farah’s husband, Mustafa, has a serious car accident and ends up in hospital in a coma. This brings his brother, Malik, across from Bangladesh and Bubblee back from London and the secrets that members of the family have been hiding for decades in some cases start coming out, even the ones they have been hiding from each other. The golden boy of the Amir family, largely because he is the only boy, may not be so golden after all, childlessness may not be Farah’s only problem and Fatima discovers why her parents are so keen for Bubblee to marry Malik rather than her, much to Bubblee’s disgust as she doesn’t want to be like Farah.
This is very much a character driven novel and the four sisters are well drawn, each with their own personalities and they are written distinctly enough that it’s easy to tell them apart. They may share parents, but that is mostly all they have in common and when each chapter shifts perspective between the sisters, it’s easy to tell which one is narrating, even without the chapter heading telling you. Admittedly, some of the background characters blend into each other a little, but for a debut novel, Hussain has done a great job of giving every maim character their own voice, which is a failing I’ve seen in more experienced writers.
Perhaps the one issue I had is that there is so much to fit in that the plot sometimes feels a little more like a soap opera than anything else at times, with so much going on in such a short space of time. Admittedly, this is quite common in the chick-lit genre, so whilst it does make things seem a touch over the top on occasion, it certainly keeps things interesting and the novel moves along at a cracking pace with everything packed into it. As expected, however, it’s the personalities that make the novel and whilst there wasn’t as much insight into how it felt living as a Muslim girl or woman in a traditional English town, as I had expected from the cover blurb, it was easy to get caught up in the lives of the Amir sisters, both the secret ones as well as the mundane.
There are 4 Amir sisters, Fatima, Farah and Bubblee, the twins and Mae, the youngest. They all live completely different lives, with Fatima still living with her parents, although spending her life largely hiding in her room and emerging only to eat badly and fail her driving test. Farah lives nearby with her husband with whom she has just found out she can’t have children, but hasn’t told her parents who are desperate for grandchildren. Bubblee has escaped their town to London, where she is living the life of an artist, waiting for her breakthrough and wondering why her twin has settled for a boring, mundane existence. Mae is the youngest and documents everything for a school project.
All their lives are turned upside down when Farah’s husband, Mustafa, has a serious car accident and ends up in hospital in a coma. This brings his brother, Malik, across from Bangladesh and Bubblee back from London and the secrets that members of the family have been hiding for decades in some cases start coming out, even the ones they have been hiding from each other. The golden boy of the Amir family, largely because he is the only boy, may not be so golden after all, childlessness may not be Farah’s only problem and Fatima discovers why her parents are so keen for Bubblee to marry Malik rather than her, much to Bubblee’s disgust as she doesn’t want to be like Farah.
This is very much a character driven novel and the four sisters are well drawn, each with their own personalities and they are written distinctly enough that it’s easy to tell them apart. They may share parents, but that is mostly all they have in common and when each chapter shifts perspective between the sisters, it’s easy to tell which one is narrating, even without the chapter heading telling you. Admittedly, some of the background characters blend into each other a little, but for a debut novel, Hussain has done a great job of giving every maim character their own voice, which is a failing I’ve seen in more experienced writers.
Perhaps the one issue I had is that there is so much to fit in that the plot sometimes feels a little more like a soap opera than anything else at times, with so much going on in such a short space of time. Admittedly, this is quite common in the chick-lit genre, so whilst it does make things seem a touch over the top on occasion, it certainly keeps things interesting and the novel moves along at a cracking pace with everything packed into it. As expected, however, it’s the personalities that make the novel and whilst there wasn’t as much insight into how it felt living as a Muslim girl or woman in a traditional English town, as I had expected from the cover blurb, it was easy to get caught up in the lives of the Amir sisters, both the secret ones as well as the mundane.
May 14, 2020
A sweet, heart-warming and occasionally frustrating read about family, identity and finding your voice <3
I always found marriage between cousins as rather... odd, even though it's a common aspect of my culture. It's because I cannot possibly imagine marrying any of my own cousins. That idea is, like Mae would say, vom. But this book makes it work. And I found Farah and Mustafa's relationship endearing and realistic.
I may be the only one, but I honestly thought of "The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters" as a modern-day, Muslim version of "Little Women". Not the plot, but the characters have similarities. The Amir sisters are like Bangladeshi copies of the March sisters in certain aspects of their character and personality. There's sensible and reliable Farah - she may not be the eldest, but she's the most mature and the first to get married - much like Meg March. Free-spirited, outspoken, feminist Bubblee has a zealous character so alike Jo March, and they are both dedicated to pursuing their art - for Jo it is her writing, for Bubblee it is her paintings, sculptures and other physical art forms. Then there's sweet, kind-hearted Fatima. She reminded me so much of Beth March with her gentle, loving nature. Also, while Beth suffered from a physical illness, Fatima's turmoil is mental. Lastly, the youngest Amir sister and the youngest March sister. They are both the most integrated in society and most socially conscious. Something about the personalities of Mae Amir and Amy March are indistinguishable (also both their names are only three letters lol).
I'm a big fan of the March sisters, so naturally I could not help falling in love with the Amir sisters. Especially as I could relate to certain aspects of their lifestyle as a Muslim myself. The best part? You don't have to be a Muslim or a Bangladesh immigrant to enjoy this book! It's the perfect combination of sweet and sour, and I feel like anyone can enjoy it.
What made me upset was that the author, Nadiya Hussain, received backlash for delving into writing fiction, because she has already published numerous cookbooks and is the winner of The Great British Bake Off! Who says the woman can't do it all??? Would she have received backlash if she were not a woman of colour? Would she have received backlash if she was a man? Honestly, the discrimination and misogynistic mindsets of some people make me sick.
Anyway, give this book a chance. You may love it just as much as I did! I can't wait to read the other books in the series of the lives of the Amir sisters.
I always found marriage between cousins as rather... odd, even though it's a common aspect of my culture. It's because I cannot possibly imagine marrying any of my own cousins. That idea is, like Mae would say, vom. But this book makes it work. And I found Farah and Mustafa's relationship endearing and realistic.
I may be the only one, but I honestly thought of "The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters" as a modern-day, Muslim version of "Little Women". Not the plot, but the characters have similarities. The Amir sisters are like Bangladeshi copies of the March sisters in certain aspects of their character and personality. There's sensible and reliable Farah - she may not be the eldest, but she's the most mature and the first to get married - much like Meg March. Free-spirited, outspoken, feminist Bubblee has a zealous character so alike Jo March, and they are both dedicated to pursuing their art - for Jo it is her writing, for Bubblee it is her paintings, sculptures and other physical art forms. Then there's sweet, kind-hearted Fatima. She reminded me so much of Beth March with her gentle, loving nature. Also, while Beth suffered from a physical illness, Fatima's turmoil is mental. Lastly, the youngest Amir sister and the youngest March sister. They are both the most integrated in society and most socially conscious. Something about the personalities of Mae Amir and Amy March are indistinguishable (also both their names are only three letters lol).
I'm a big fan of the March sisters, so naturally I could not help falling in love with the Amir sisters. Especially as I could relate to certain aspects of their lifestyle as a Muslim myself. The best part? You don't have to be a Muslim or a Bangladesh immigrant to enjoy this book! It's the perfect combination of sweet and sour, and I feel like anyone can enjoy it.
What made me upset was that the author, Nadiya Hussain, received backlash for delving into writing fiction, because she has already published numerous cookbooks and is the winner of The Great British Bake Off! Who says the woman can't do it all??? Would she have received backlash if she were not a woman of colour? Would she have received backlash if she was a man? Honestly, the discrimination and misogynistic mindsets of some people make me sick.
Anyway, give this book a chance. You may love it just as much as I did! I can't wait to read the other books in the series of the lives of the Amir sisters.
October 12, 2021
"You get used to things because you have to. Not because you like it, just because that's how things are and so you make the most of it."
The story of Amir family, the Bangladeshis living in England, from the perspectives of four Amir sisters - Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae. This book is okay for me. The plot is okay, the character is okay, everything is okay. Well, maybe I don't like how their parents really really coddled their only son, Jay despite the biggest mistake he made and put her sister through it. I mean, why do boys always get away with everything and then everyone just say "boys will always be boys", and then girls need to be this perfect daughter, perfect wife, perfect person, perfect everything, and when we slipped, we're doomed in their eyes. This thing really infuriate me sometimes.
The book is okay. I just wish that the plots can piqued my interest a bit, instead of keep portraying the sisters' personalities over and over again. I get it, this sister is like this and that sister is like that, I get it in the first place. Other than that, I absolutely love life lessons and wise words I learn from this book. PS: The character I can relate to the most in this book is Bubblee.
The story of Amir family, the Bangladeshis living in England, from the perspectives of four Amir sisters - Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae. This book is okay for me. The plot is okay, the character is okay, everything is okay. Well, maybe I don't like how their parents really really coddled their only son, Jay despite the biggest mistake he made and put her sister through it. I mean, why do boys always get away with everything and then everyone just say "boys will always be boys", and then girls need to be this perfect daughter, perfect wife, perfect person, perfect everything, and when we slipped, we're doomed in their eyes. This thing really infuriate me sometimes.
The book is okay. I just wish that the plots can piqued my interest a bit, instead of keep portraying the sisters' personalities over and over again. I get it, this sister is like this and that sister is like that, I get it in the first place. Other than that, I absolutely love life lessons and wise words I learn from this book. PS: The character I can relate to the most in this book is Bubblee.
August 27, 2022
More of a 3.5 but rounding up is more accurate than down. I picked this up from the library as I've been a big fan of Hussain since GBBO and have seen all of her TV shows and own all of her cookbooks. Naturally, reading her ventures into fiction seemed the next logical step. Oveall, I enjoyed the book, especially as it depicts the intersecting lives of 4 sisters with the rest of their family and the folk in the small English village they call home.
***SPOILERS***
I was a bit surprised to learn of the extent of what I personally consider to be a male-centric attitude in traditional Bangladeshi families. Calling a boy child "Jack's Father" or "Al's Mother" in the US or other western cultures would just not fly, so it took a little getting used to. That and the fact that the brother of the 4 sisters causes extreme destruction--causing a sister to literally lose her house and almost become a widow--and faces almost zero consequences. He makes a half-assed attempt to right his wrong, fails, and then it's up to the sisters to try to save the house (with a village-wide bake sale, no less). Hussain tries to balance traditional conventions with modern practicalities and indeed, many of the plot's conflicts are a result of ensuing clashes. Still...the continued almost worship of the son by the parents grated on me the wrong way. Currently 1/3 through the 2nd one, so I do have hope for the series.
***SPOILERS***
I was a bit surprised to learn of the extent of what I personally consider to be a male-centric attitude in traditional Bangladeshi families. Calling a boy child "Jack's Father" or "Al's Mother" in the US or other western cultures would just not fly, so it took a little getting used to. That and the fact that the brother of the 4 sisters causes extreme destruction--causing a sister to literally lose her house and almost become a widow--and faces almost zero consequences. He makes a half-assed attempt to right his wrong, fails, and then it's up to the sisters to try to save the house (with a village-wide bake sale, no less). Hussain tries to balance traditional conventions with modern practicalities and indeed, many of the plot's conflicts are a result of ensuing clashes. Still...the continued almost worship of the son by the parents grated on me the wrong way. Currently 1/3 through the 2nd one, so I do have hope for the series.
February 17, 2019
I don't usually read books about normal family life as I prefer fantasy and adventure but I really love Nadiya and I wanted to try her book. I read it over two days whilst snowed in and really enjoyed it, the characters were all interesting and while it's not my normal choice of novel I'm glad I branched out and tried it!
September 5, 2017
packed with humor and warmth
July 6, 2019
Loved this story! Excellent tale of friendship and family.
July 11, 2020
Nadiya is my favorite person ever from Great British Baking Show. Her novel was sweet, and I felt like her voice really came through.
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