Northern x Asian x LGBTQ+ rep x Bollywood masala. What a combo that is. A joyous, uplifting and moving story from start to finish, one that will be enjoyed by all but will mean so much to people who don't get to see themselves in books like this.

Billy Elliott but from Blackburn. The unorthodox kid battles his traditional Muslim background to become a musical star. Nothing new here but it's a good Pakistani/British comedy and a fun read.

A nice, easy read from a promising new author! The book was a little predicatble at times, and the sections with the young Rafi did read like a children's book in places, but overall the novel was sweet and touching, and I found it interesting to follow the coming-of-age of a young gay Muslim boy in the north of the UK. I also loved all the food talk!

Rafi Aziz has always dreamed of seeing his name in lights. The youngest of three, Rafi's passion for singing, dancing, piano, and acting has always set him apart. His flamboyant and dramatic personality is who he truly is, but it clashes with the expectations of his family and community. Growing up in the UK after his family emigrated from Pakistan for better opportunities, Rafi has had to navigate the difficult journey from boyhood to adulthood, constantly feeling the pressure to conform to cultural norms.

Now, twenty years later, Rafi is a successful actor and singer living in Australia. But when his best friend's wedding brings him back to the UK, he is forced to confront his past. He hasn’t seen his family or returned to his old neighborhood in over a decade. As he prepares to face those who once pressured him to be someone else, Rafi must find the courage to be his true self. The question remains: will he be accepted and supported, or will the weight of old expectations still hold him back?

Exactly like a modern day Billy Elliot and I loved it!

Rafi Aziz's story resonated deeply with me., having grown up in Pakistan. Growing up in Northern England, Rafi is a boy with big dreams of seeing his name in lights.

In the 1981 suburbs of Blackburn, his mother constantly reminds him that their move from Pakistan was to give him the best opportunities. Yet, Rafi's heart yearns for something different. Flamboyant, dramatic, and musically talented, he aspires to be a Bollywood star.

After twenty years, Rafi is flying home from Australia for his best friend's wedding. He has achieved so much: starring roles in musical theatre, a perfect boyfriend, and the freedom to be himself. But returning to Blackburn poses a significant challenge: can he reveal his true self to his community?

Rafi’s journey, set against the backdrop of changing times from the era of ABBA, skinheads, and urbanization, is a moving exploration of identity, family, and dreams. Following him from boyhood to adulthood, I found myself deeply invested in his story, cheering for him as he navigates the complexities of following his heart.

This is an absolutely delightful tale of Rafi Aziz, a young boy from a Pakistani family living in the northern England town of Blackburn. At the age of ten, he dreams of being a Bollywood star and loves nothing better than writing his own songs on his toy piano and dressing up to sing Abba songs with his best friend Shazia. It’s 1981, and he’s in the last year of primary school, living in dread of going to the rough local High School next year, where his older brother has told him he will be beaten up by skinheads for being so girly.

Rafi’s family emigrated to Britain so their children could have a better life and although his mother loves to sing and dance with him in the kitchen, she doesn’t want him to display his talents outside the home, and certainly won’t hear of him becoming anything other than a doctor or an engineer. However, a new music teacher, recognises his talent and not only encourages him to embrace it, but also to always be himself and not someone others want him to be.

Told in two time lines, one in 1981 when Rafi is on the verge of adolescence and one twenty years later when Rafi, now a successful actor and producer in Australia, is flying to Blackburn to sing at Shazia’s wedding, this is an insightful tale not only of one young boy’s journey to be who he yearns to be but also of the immigrant experience in Britain. Rafi’s mother had never wanted to come to England and has never been happy there. Missing both her family and community and her country, she has tried instead to help her children be successful and conform to the cultural expectations of their migrant community. Rafi’s desire to follow his heart will fracture their relationship that was once so close. This is a wonderful read - heart wrenching in places, but also humorous, compelling and triumphant. You won’t be able to help falling in love with Rafi and cheering him on!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book.

This is a beautiful coming of age story of Rafi, a young queer boy in England who is from a practicing Muslim family originally from Pakistan.

Rafi is a member of the lgbtq+ community and this book follows his closest relationships through out his youth and as a man in a committed relationship with his partner David in Australia.

This book is the perfect mix of emotional and sweet and I think it really encapsulates the experience of a gay young with religious family in a time when being out was more difficult. I really felt for Rafi and I found the relationship with his mother, especially toward the end of the book to be heartbreakingly emotional but important.

I am ambivalent about this book. At first, I found the many descriptions of what people were wearing redundant and almost gave up reading it (something I never do). But because i'd committed to writing review of it, I forced myself to continue. And I'm glad I did. The book became far more engaging about a third of the way into it. The final two thirds of the book were very engaging and the storyline picked up. I'd recommend this book for its moving and sometimes humerous recounting of the experienced of an immigrant child recognizing he is different from the mainstream cultural and gender norms and struggling to find his place.

Okay. So. I have spent the last twelve hours telling every single one of my loved ones about this book, and how beautiful and heart-wrenching and powerful it was. I made two of them cry just from my talking about it. I also cried as I talked about it. I cried–nee, bawled–as I read the last fifty pages of this book. I want to cry now just thinking about it.

The novel follows Rafi, a young Pakistani boy growing up in England in a traditional Muslim household. Problem one: he wants to become an actor and singer in a neighborhood who disdains creative pursuits of that nature. Problem two: he is gay, and that is even worse than wanting to be an actor. The story alternates between one timeline when Rafi is an adult, returning to England to see his family for a wedding, and the other in the form of flashbacks to his childhood and formative years. The imagery is rich, the dialogue powerful. The world that Iqbal Hussain creates for his characters feels rife with emotion and realness, and coming from the world of Asian Muslim households myself, I felt that so much of this cut to the bone.

The plotline between Rafi and his mother (Maam, as he calls her) broke me. Seeing her utter support and love and favoritism, and then watching how it evolves in the wake of Rafi’s multidimensional passions, was painful. So many conversations pertaining to the sinful nature of queerness were either conversations I have lived through, or ones I am terrified are yet to come. My personal bias is clearly showing through here, but isn’t that the point of good literature? To bring us to confront ourselves in ways we perhaps have avoided? Or to give voice to things we are too afraid to say? Northern Boy captures that struggle perfectly, and the ending was profoundly moving.

My sole, and very minor, gripe with the book is that the switching between timelines was never signified with headings, but relied on the reader’s ability to grasp from context where in time we were. There were numerous times I understood wrong, and it took a few pages to get myself back on track. For that reason alone, this gets a 4.5⭐, but I adored it so much that I am rounding it to 5⭐ on all platforms. Please do yourself a great favor and read this novel.

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I really enjoy reading books set in the British South Asian community! I have lived and worked in the Asian community and it always brings back memories(good and bad, alike!). From this point of view, Northern Boy does not disappoint: colourful, full of smells and customs, well observed dynamics both inside the community and the friction with the outside world. It's also amazing that Iqbal Hussain tackles such a taboo subject, bonus points!

The issue, in my view, is that the general aim has been to deliver a page turner, a feel good story with a bit of depth to it! But in order for Northern Boy to be that, it needs a very good trimming! The core story is many a time drawn in an ocean of unnecessary details. Overly long, to the point it can drag. Also I, unfortunately, did not like Rafi as a character. I thought he was overly self-centred and superficial! I did care about his faith as a child, but not so much afterwords... but that's just me, is not necessary a fault with the novel :)

All in all an enjoyable debut, hilarious at times; I'd love to see what else Hussain has in store for us!

"We should be building bridges, right, not knocking them down?"

This "Billy Elliot" page turner filled with hope and despair will break your heart and put it back together stronger than ever. "Northern Boy" busts wide open the cultural challenges and stereotypes of the Asian Muslim community.

"Each time I think I'm on steady ground, it turns into quicksand."

Rafi Aziz dreams of his name in lights. He's the youngest of three and his mother frequently reminds the Aziz family that they have moved to the UK from Pakistan so that they can have better opportunities. Rafi wants to be a Bollywood star. He is talented at singing, dancing, playing piano, and acting. He's flamboyant and dramatic! It's who he is, but not who his family and community want him to be. He now must navigate boyhood to adulthood with this artistic passion in his soul albeit his bullies, family, and cultural norms pressuring him to be someone else. Twenty years later, now a successful actor / singer, Rafi is flying home from Australia for his best friend's wedding. He hasn't seen his family in over a decade and now must face his old neighborhood, friends, and family. Does Rafi have the courage to be himself now? Will he be supported?

"She wanted me to change, to become someone else. But her betrayal was the worst because her approval meant the most."

Iqbal Hussain has won numerous writing awards for his work. It's easy to see why after jumping into this story. Being a Musical Theater teacher myself, I was hooked from the beginning of this one. The first 60% of the book takes the reader on a non-linear time journey that is completely captivating, running the reader through a full spectrum of emotions. As we get into the last 30% of the book, things slow down a bit as the timeline moves solely to the present, though stakes are still high. There is a huge unfair time gap happening at that 60% mark, between Rafi's childhood and the present, that I desperately wanted explained to me! A pivotal moment happens and then it completely skips to his adulthood. I am saying all of this selfishly and not as a slight against the writing. I was just enjoying the life of Rafi so much that I wanted to know what happened to him after middle school. I learned an immense about Asian Muslims in this book. I think I was looking up several words per page because I had never seen them before. I also got to know their cultural norms and how they do life together. It was a fascinating read, to say the least.

"Shoot for the moon, Rafi. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

Bravo, Iqbal Hussain.

I really enjoyed this coming of age story of a young Pakistani boy in the UK in 1981. We meet Rafi in 2000, as he prepares to return home for a friend’s wedding. 1981 timeline was more compelling but it was necessary for 2000 Rafi to tell the story of a young, flamboyant, talented boy from an immigrant family, navigating a space he doesn’t even have words for.

I’m giving this 4 stars. I would have given it more but there’s a thread of a storyline missing that would have made me love this more.

Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy

Not only did this book make me a tourist in my own past (I was a teenager in the mid to late 70s) and brought back memories of place that I had forgotten - including the holes in the shoes (if you know, you know!) it was poignant, heartwarming and left me bathed in a warn glow. Rafi is travelling from Australia, as an adult, to attend his childhood best friend’s wedding. The flight gives him time to revisit his past and how decisions made for him affected his future. All Rafi wanted was to make his own way in life, but as a gay, Asian boy growing up in Blackburn, trying yo be who he wanted was difficult. As well as positive memories, it also reminded how divisive Thatcher’s Britain was. A story that needs to be read!

Northern Boy: A big Bollywood dream. A small-town chance was Iqbal Hussain’s debut novel. It was a compelling and heartfelt coming of age story about a talented Pakistani boy, Rafi Aziz. Rafi seemed to march to the beat of his own drum from a very young age. He was the youngest of his siblings and the clear favorite of his mother. His parents had moved from Pakistan to the suburbs of Blackburn, England so their children could experience more opportunities than they would have had in Pakistan. Blackburn was located in the northern part of England. Northern Boy was very well written and the characters were well thought out and quite believable. It was written in a dual time line that captured Rafi’s early years and then picked up twenty years later when Rafi returned to Blackburn for his best friend Shazia’s wedding.

Rafi’s story began in the early 1980’s. He was a young, impressionable and musically inclined boy who much preferred to sing, dance and play with his best friend Shazia than to play sports and hang out with other boys his age. Rafi’s dream was to become a Bollywood star. Rafi received encouragement from his mother who also loved to sing and wear colorful and exotic clothes. He often belted out songs by his favorite group, ABBA or played songs by ear on his toy baby grand piano. All of this was fine for Rafi to do as long as it was done in the confines of his own home. The day Rafi decided to showcase his music and rather flamboyant style of dress outside of his home was the day Rafi began to receive mixed messages from his mother. She was more concerned about how Rafi would be perceived by her neighbors. Rafi was confused by the mixed messages he was getting from his mother. He was just being himself and doing the things that made him the happiest.

Rafi was tormented by bullies at school. He went out of his way to avoid these boys but somehow they always seemed to find him. Rafi was very concerned about graduating from the school he was attending. His parents had made it very clear that they expected Rafi to attend Everton High School. Rafi knew that there was a particular boy that attended Everton that would go out of his way to make Rafi’s life miserable there. Rafi was trying to figure out a way so that he didn’t have to go to Everton. Perhaps Rafi’s salvation laid in the hands of his music teacher, Mr. H., who recognized Rafi’s untapped potential and inborn talents. Mr. H became Rafi’s mentor, teacher and friend. He encouraged Rafi to apply and audition for a spot at one of the top music schools in England. Rafi was granted an audition. Although Rafi’s parents had denied their consent for Rafi’s audition, Rafi and Mr. H decided to go anyway. This was an opportunity that Rafi could not pass up and it could be his ticket for not attending Everton. Rafi was not only offered a spot but he also received a full scholarship. He never looked back.

Twenty years later, Rafi found himself living in Australia. He lived with his handsome partner and their dog. Rafi had built a successful career in the theatre as an actor/ musician. He had put up walls between himself and his family. Rafi had never revealed anything about his personal life to his family or friends back in Blackburn. He was still afraid of what they would think of him. Keeping his distance was just easier but now he was offered no choice but to return to Blackburn. His best and oldest friend Shazia was getting married. Rafi decided to travel to Blackburn solo. His partner would remain in Australia. Someone had to take care of their dog. Right? Rafi felt that it would be easier to go to Blackburn by himself. There would be less explaining to do. How would Rafi’s brother and sister be with seeing him after all this time? Can Rafi and Shazia pick up right where they had left off and renew their friendship? Who else will Rafi encounter? How has Blackburn changed over the many years Rafi has managed to avoided going back? Will Rafi’s mother embrace him or scorn him?

Northern Boy reminded me in some ways of Billy Elliot. It was a beautiful story that made me laugh and even shed a few tears. It was about family, dreams, identity, hope, being part of a community, bullying, friendship and romance. Rafi was a boy who was comfortable about who he was and what he wanted. As a man, Rafi, hid his feelings and how he identified himself from his family. Above all else, Rafi was unique, determined, strong, so talented and very resilient. I fell in love with Rafi’s character and found myself rooting for him. Northern Boy was a very touching story that I enjoyed tremendously and recommend highly.

Thank you to Unbound Firsts for allowing me to read Northern Boy: A big Bollywood dream. A small-town chance by Iqbal Hussain through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Publication is set for January 28, 2025.

We meet Rafi, successful in his musical theatre career and settled with his long-term boyfriend, setting off from Australia to return to Blackburn for his best friend Shazia's wedding. He hasn't been back since his father's funeral five years previously, and it was another five years back that he left the restrictive atmosphere of the UK after university. He comes across in the modern-day sections as not that likeable (but he gets to grow and change) and in flashbacks to his childhood as alternately smothered and pampered and encouraged to express his dramatic and artistic personality by his equally dramatic and artisitic mum and berated for being his true self, bullied at school and by the local aunties and his own brother. The two narratives converge and then we jump forward in time again for the resolution, nicely done and affecting.

I loved all the little details, creating costumes with Shazia, the women's changing roles, especially his bete-noir at primary school, changing attitudes to gay people while the community becomes more visibly Muslim, the tapes his mum sends back to Pakistan with all the family news. A lovely warm novel about growth and acceptance and being your true self.

Review out on 17 June on my blog

What a great debut novel by Iqbal Hussain! Northern Boy is a heartfelt story briming with vibrant characters that will steal your heart and will have you laughing, crying, and rooting for this family, especially young Rafi. I hope to see these characters come to life someday in movie or mini tv series. I enjoyed the structure of this story and the way the story switched between the 70s and early 2000s. If you are looking for a queer book to read for pride month I’d highly recommend. This is described as the perfect uplit read this year and I totally agree!
Many thanks to NetGalley & Unbound for the ARC.

Growing up in a community where racism and exclusion are part of daily life makes it challenging to embrace your authentic self. What if being true to yourself exposes you to even more bigotry from the very community you identify with? What if the discrimination comes from within?

Northern Boy follows the story of Rafi Aziz, a ten-year-old Pakistani Muslim growing up in the northern town of Blackburn Lancashire. With a love for music, and Bollywood's vibrant culture of song and dance, shaping much of his early years, Rafi struggles to understand why he must leave this part of himself behind as he transitions to secondary education. Through the lens of his adult self's memories, the book weaves a rich tapestry of family, love, loss, and the cultural taboos faced by all those part of a close-knit but very conservative community.

The one thing that really strikes you when reading Northern Boy is that it feels, in part, almost autobiographical. While the story is fictional you can tell that the life is one that the author has lived. It’s too real not to be. It’s the little details almost too random to be fictional that really ensnare this story in your heartstrings. Rafi is just adorable. Often, when books are written from a dual perspective, the child’s viewpoint can feel too mature. Rafi’s journey, instead, is beautifully captured with a child’s innocence, which is no small feat given that many of the topics are far from it.

Through Rafi’s eyes, we experience the sheer terror of childhood bullying, the rise of the skinhead culture so prevalent in the early ‘80s and the fear of National Front (a far-right fascist political party in the UK that exploited concerns around Asian migration at the time). Within the family, hard topics such as the fear of joblessness due to Thatcherite reforms, the pain and alienation of leaving your homeland and the pressure of finding a husband while barely a teenager yourself are all described from the viewpoint of Rafi’s childlike naivety. As well, the struggle to come to terms with your own sexuality in the face of potential rejection by those you love the most is beautifully and sympathetically handled. All this while living in fear of judgement laden on you by your very community and neighbours.

All of the above may sound grim reading, and while the twin themes of loss and regret wind their way throughout, the overall feeling is one of love, warmth, hope, and vibrancy. The soul-stirring need to follow your dreams and to be a ‘butterfly amongst the bricks’ shines through. This book devastated me. I laughed, I cried and it moved me in a way that I never ever expected. While I loved the fine details, such as actual Bollywood songs and artists and the real-life events that affected the area woven into the story, it is the emotional depth of the story that truly lingers. Northern Boy is one of those rare books that will stay with me, and I am incredibly glad that I chose to pick it up.

Thank you NetGalley and Unbound Publishing for providing me with an e-arc - all opinions are my own

I adored 'Northern Boy' and tore through Rafi's story, which was so beautifully told by Iqbal Hussain. I laughed, I cried, I was totally swept away by it all. I was drawn in from the description of ‘Billy Elliott meets Bollywood’ but there is much more to this book and the tender and honest way that Rafi’s story was told completely floored me.
The story is told over two time periods, Rafi's childhood in Blackburn and his adult life in Australia. He is the youngest child of three, born in 1970s Blackburn to parents who have moved from Pakistan for better opportunities for their family. Rafi loves singing and dancing to Bollywood tunes around the kitchen with his mum who adores her youngest son and calling him gulab jaman as a sign of affection. Outside the house, it is a different story though and Rafi is encouraged to dial down his personality. For his family, its critical to fit in with societal expectations, and any behaviour that means someone might stand out is stamped on straight away or it will be gossiped about for ever more. Rafi’s best friend is Shazia; the two of them love Abba and there’s a wonderful scene where Rafi and his classmates get to meet Abba and perform with them.
His wonderful music teacher Mr H encourages Rafi to pursue his dreams, recognising Rafi’s innate musicality and need to perform and be seen. He helps build Rafi’s self-confidence and show him that he needs to be true to himself or he’ll never be happy. As a reader, we know immediately that Mr H himself is gay as is Rafi, but this is never spoken out loud – Rafi just knows that there is a connection between the two of them.
As an adult, Rafi lives in Australia with his longterm partner and has made his childhood dreams become a reality. He’s an actor, singer and musical star, recognised by strangers and free to be as flamboyant as he wants to be. He is flying back home to Shazia’s wedding, excited to see his family but nervous that they do not know about his sexuality; the only person who knows is Shazia. Whilst at Shazia’s wedding, his old neighbours ask him whether he’s met a nice girl yet, offering to set him up a wife and family. The pull between being a good son and not rocking the boat, against being free to tell people who he really is and who he loves is so powerful, and the pressure on him from all sides is so palpable.
There was much that resonated with me, as a child of the 1970s (hello, shiny toilet paper!) and as the child of immigrant parents myself, both elements which are central to Rafi’s story. I was lucky enough to talk to the author about both of these factors, and how they informed his writing. Iqbal Hussain is such a generous author, willing to answer all of my questions and more. I can’t recommend ‘Northern Boy enough – a strong 5 star read from an author who has given his characters authentic voices, real emotion and wonderful stories.

In 1981, in Blackburn, young Rafi dreams of the big screen, just like the Bollywood stars he grew up watching. As factory closure threatens his father’s job, Rafi dreads the day he must move to the school down the road, where his musically gifted talents make him a target to the school bullies. Twenty years later, all the way from Australia, Rafi is summoned back home for his best friend’s wedding. For years, he has almost forgotten Blackburn, but as he makes his way back home, the memories and expectations he left behind come flooding back.

Northern Boy is a deeply moving coming-of-age story that vividly portrays the cultural and societal challenges faced by a young Pakistani boy growing up in the 1980s, a time and place deeply marked by societal changes with the rise of Thatcherism. As Rafi grapples with his traditional upbringing, he becomes acutely aware of the whispers in the neighbourhood, the rumours of lost jobs and the rise in racial harassment. His creative outlets, once a source of joy, are suddenly a burden, and at a young age, he is faced with the growing expectations that he must become the man his family wants him to be. But when the opportunity of a lifetime appears, a chance to sing alongside ABBA, Rafi's determination not to let his dream pass is palpable.

Northern Boy is written from a dual perspective: Rafi in his youth and Rafi as an adult making the journey to Blackburn, much of which is the plane ride from Australia. For me, this was an example of a book in which the dual perspective did not work in favour of this book. Hussain does well in differentiating the tone between Rafi in different life stages; one moment stuck out to me when Rafi’s childhood innocence did not pick up the situation of his teacher, and then in the later chapters, he looks back on his experience in hindsight. However, for the most part, the narrative feels very skewered. As I read, I found myself really enjoying Young Rafi’s chapter, but whenever it switched over to the present time, older Rafi’s chapters lacked any real progression; those chapters felt like we were just in a waiting game for the Young Rafi chapters to be over before the Present Rafi could finally move on. While the dual perspective approach was not as effective as it could have been, and the timeline became somewhat unclear towards the end, these issues did not significantly detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

In all, Northern Boy is heartfelt and poignant. Hussain's ability to vividly portray the struggles and triumphs of Rafi's youth was fantastic to read. Despite my shortcomings with the dual perspective and the adult chapters, the story is still rich in character development and poignant storytelling shines through. Rafi's journey and quest for identity resonate deeply, making Northern Boy still a worthwhile read.

I can’t put into words how much I loved this book. The second I saw it was a mix of ‘Billy Elliot’ and ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ (along with being set in the North as I’m a Northern girl) I knew I’d enjoy it but I truly think that’s selling the story short. It was so beautiful reading Rafi’s story and meeting his family. I truly never wanted this book to end and I think it will resonate with so many people. Ive already told a few family members I’m picking up a copy of it for them. What a stunning debut from Iqbal Hussain, I truly can’t wait to see what he brings out next.

If you have to read any book this year, this is it.

Thank you so much for the pleasure of reading it.

Please also note that a review has been added to Amazon however it can take several days to approve and load.