Farzana Doctor Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Farzana Doctor is a psychotherapist, writer, and activist. Her ancestry is Indian, and she was born in Zambia as her family was based there for five years, before she immigrated to Canada in the year 1971.

Farzana became interested in community organizing during her teen years, primarily gender violence, environmental issues, and LGBTTTIQ rights. From 2009 until 2018, she curated the Brockton Writers Series and has been a volunteer with the Writers’ Trust and The Writers’ Union of Canada.

She studied social work during the early nineties and has been a social worker since. She has worked in various community agencies and one hospital before she started a part-time private practice, where she sees couples and individuals.

Farzana’s been writing all of her life, however it became more of a regular practice around the year 2000, when she started writing “Stealing Nasreen”, her first novel, which was published in the year 2007.

While each of her books are distinct from each other, some common themes include relationships, loss, healing, community, racism, diasporic identity, LGBT rights, and feminism. Farzana blends strong stories with social justice issues seamlessly. Her main genre is contemporary literary fiction, but there’s usually just a hint of magic realism in her work.

Farzana is an amateur Tarot card reader and she has a love of energy psychology, neuroscience, hypnosis, and spirituality.

“Six Metres of Pavement”, her second novel, was shortlisted for the 2012 Toronto Book Award and it won a 2012 Lambda Literary Award. In the year 2017 it was voted the One Book One Brampton 2017 winner. “All Inclusive”, her third novel, was a National Post and Kobo Best Book of the Year. She was also named one of CBC Books’ “100 Writers in Canada You Need to Know Now”.

“Stealing Nasreen” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2007. The lives of three different individuals, each of whom belong to same tiny religious community, intersect as they attempt to find and pursue life and love itself. The novel is set in Toronto, which is home to Nasreen, a burnt-out psychologist and Indo-Canadian but is a new world to both Salma and Shaffiq.

While working in the exact same hospital, Shaffiq grows increasingly fascinated with Nasreen, causing him to bring home and hide things that he finds in her office. Salma finds some of these hidden treasures and starts to suspect that something’s amiss. Nasreen, in the meantime, starts attending Salma’s weekly Gujarati classes, and Salma also finds herself being inexplicably attracted to this student. And one impulsive kiss sets off one surprising series of events.

“Six Meters of Pavement” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2011. Ismail Boxwala made the absolute worst mistake of his life one summer morning two decades ago: he forgot his baby daughter in his car. After his daughter died tragically, he struggles to continue on living. Years of heavy drinking, a divorce, and having sex with strangers just leave him more alone and more isolated.

Ismail’s story starts to change after he hesitantly befriends two women. Ceila, his grieving Portuguese-Canadian neighbor that lives only six meters away and Fatima, one young queer activist that was kicked out of her parents’ home. A slow-simmering romance begins developing between Ceila and Ismail.

At the same time, dangers lead Fatima right to his doorstep. Each one of them makes complex demands from him, ones that he is uncertain he could meet.

“All Inclusive” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2015. A tale about one all-inclusive resort, the tragedies we simply cannot forget, and the ghost of an unknown dad.

What is it like when everybody’s dream vacation is your job? Ameera works at a Mexican all-inclusive resort, where each day is paradise. Assuming “paradise” means quotas to meet, endless paperwork, and entitled tourists. It ain’t all bad, though: Ameera’s pastime of choice is the swingers scene. And the resort is the most perfect place to hook up with the like-minded couples without all of the hassle of ever having to see them again.

Despite Ameera’s absolute best efforts to keep this sideline of hers a secret, somebody’s spreading scandalous rumors about her all around the resort. Which might be putting her job in jeopardy. At the same time, she is being plagued by her other big secret, the big unknown about her existence: her dad’s identity and why he vanished. Unbeknownst to her, Azeez (her dad) has been looking for her, and they both are forced to come to grips with the reason that he abandoned her.

This novel blurs the very lines between paradise and the real world, and between death and life, and it reminds us that love is neither lost nor found easily. She spins a page-turning and passionate story about the sometimes invisible ties that bind. It is brilliant storytelling.

“Seven” is the fourth stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. A novel about resistance and inheritance that tests the very balance between the fight against customs that harm us and kinship.

When Sharifa accompanies her husband on this marriage saving trip to India in the year 2016, she believes she is going to be researching her great-great-grandfather, a philanthropist and wealthy business leader. What captures her imagination is not his rags-to-riches tale, however the mystery about his four wives, which is missing from all of the family lore. She winds up excavating a lot more than she figured.

Sharifa’s trip happens to coincide with a time of unrest within her conservative and insular religious community, and there isn’t any escape from its politics. One group of feminists speaks out against khatna, this age-old ritual they insist is really female genital cutting. Sharifa’s two most favorite cousins are on opposing sides of the debate and she looks to find a middle ground of some sort. While the issue begins to heat up, Sharifa finds one unexpected truth and is required to taking a position.

Once more, Farzana delivers another layered, nuanced, inter-generational prose, in order to bring visibility to another important social issue.