Abda Khan Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Abda Khan
Abda Khan is a lawyer turned writer born in 1969 in the United Kingdom to Pakistani immigrant parents. She is the seventh of eight kids, and the first child in her family to go on to higher education. Abda is a lawyer and has her own practice.

Abda was named British Muslim Woman of the Year 2019. She was highly commended as a finalist in the Arts & Culture category of the Nat West Asian women of Achievement Awards in the year 2017.

Abda was born and raised in a deprived inner city area; her mom was a housewife and her dad worked in the wool mill. She grew up in a part of the city that was a melting pot of cultures: Indian, white British, Bangladeshi, East African, Pakistani. They all lived together, and, overall, in harmony. Abda did see quite a lot of gender inequality, some racism, cultural and familial conflicts. She believes that each of these layers and issues now are reflected in her writing, mixed in with her 25 years of working in the legal industry.

The most memorable book from her childhood was David Line’s “Run for Your Life”, which she read when she was about nine years old. It was her first experience of a real page turner, a book that she couldn’t possibly put down. She got lost in the storyline, like she were actually there, in every scene. To this very day, it is probably her favorite book, or at least top three.

She took to writing in about 2014, as a result of her work, and was inspired to write “Stained” from her experiences of living in and working within the British Asian community. In particular with regards to the issues faced by the women in these communities, as well as the things that have been done in the name of family ‘honour’. She realized there was very little fiction that highlighted any of these women, and their issues, something that bothered her.

The hardest scene for her to write in this novel, was obviously the rape scene. Rather than describe the rape, she concentrated on how Selina felt through it all, rather than detailing the obvious. Abda also found Selina’s character to be the most difficult character to write in the novel, as she goes through so much, and she had to document that in such a way that captured the tragedy and drama of what happened to her but do it in a way that’s true to her character.

She was inspired to write her second novel, she came across the issue of modern slavery in a news report. She began reading up on the issue, and was shocked by what she found. Abda dug even deeper, and decided that it was something that she would like to write about and try to highlight this problem. There’s little to no modern fiction that touches on the plight of modern-day slaves.

Abda is very much an observer of humans. She loves looking at how people interact and behave, whether it is in a formal setting, such as her own office, a dinner party, or a conference. Or if it’s in an informal place, like at a train station or an airport.

While writing, she finds she needs to have a cup of tea beside her. She ‘writes’ on her laptop, however she needs to have her favorite notebook on hand as she likes scribbling down ideas.

Abda’s debut novel, called “Stained”, was released in the year 2019. Her work is from the thriller, fiction, and contemporary genres.

“Stained” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2016. Selina is a British-born Pakistani young and beautiful woman that recently lost her dad. She is struggling to cope with life, especially certain parts of her studies. Matters get even worse when a trusted friend of the family from the mosque offers to tutor her, but rapes her instead.

Selina, with the threat of dishonor to her family at her back, goes to some extreme lengths in order to avoid a scandal, and prevent shame being brought to her widowed mom’s door. It is going to take all the strength and courage she’s able to muster when her life travels down a dangerous path, from which there might not be any return.

This is a gripping novel that grabs your attention from the first page and refuses to let you go until the end. It takes the reader on a roller coaster ride that you don’t know what will happen next, and spend the whole time hoping Selina survives it all. Selina is a fantastic character that is very likable and easy to empathize with her, and her voice entirely natural and real. Khan’s prose is spare and makes the story flow smoothly like a river, and she does a wonderful job of weaving in various strands of identity and culture and the cultural clash that takes place in the hearts and homes of South Asian families that live in Britain.

“Razia” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2019. Farah’s a lawyer that works and lives in London. She just ended a long relationship, and her parents are trying to find a husband, whether Farah wants one or not. So far, so normal. At a work dinner, which is hosted by one dangerously powerful man, comes upon a young lady called Razia, who Farah realizes is being kept as a domestic slave.

Farah travels from the law courts in London to the brick kilns of Lahore, and there she starts uncovering the traps that keep generations of people enslaved. Everywhere she goes there is deep-rooted corruption and oppression. She teams up with one human rights lawyer Ali to get justice for Razia. However, they cannot prevent the disaster that unfolds.

Is Farah going to find the explosive secret lying behind these tragic events?

The novel tackles issues such as corruption, highlighting all that is bad about power, money, and privilege misused and brings them all to the reader’s notice, yet it still seems optimistic in places and is wonderfully touching.