Sabina Khan Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Sabina Khan is a reputed Canadian writer of young adult, gay & lesbian, and contemporary stories. She is particularly famous for writing her novels, The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali and Realm of the Goddess. Her next novel, Zara Hussain Is Here, is also ready for release. In addition to being a popular author, Sabina is a karaoke enthusiast and an educational consultant. She has lived in many parts of the world, including Macao, Germany, Texas, Bangladesh, Illinois, etc. As of now, Sabina is happily settled in British Columbia, Canada along with her loving husband and 3 beautiful daughters. The beautiful scenery of the town where she stays attracts her very much. As a writer, Sabina likes to focus on Muslim teens involved in straddling cultures.

When Sabina began writing her first book, she had completed the first draft in just 16 days. At that time, she was deeply involved in writing and used to spend close to 10 to 11 hours every day. Now, she doesn’t think she has the energy and focus to spend such long hours in the writing process. After undergoing several rounds of editing, intensive revisions, and title changes, Sabina’s first book was made available to the public in January 2019. With her second book, Realm of the Goddess, author Sabina has started a new series of YA, Paranormal, Fantasy stories that revolve around the Indian gods and goddesses.

Sabina is quite passionate about empowering women and girls. She hopes to inspire them with her stories told through the perspectives of strong female characters. In her debut novel, Sabina has described the story of a Muslim lesbian girl, who finds herself pulled in different directions by the ones close to her heart. On one hand, the girl’s parents want her to respect and uphold their Bengali traditions in Seattle, and on the other hand, her girlfriend wants her to tell her parents about their lesbian relationship. The girl, Rukhsana Ali, fears that the two equal sections of her identity can’t mix together without causing big trouble.

After the release of the book, author Sabina received private messages from numerous teen readers, who said they felt it was their story that they were reading. Most of them felt as if someone believed that their existence mattered and the world wanted to hear their stories now. While Sabina lived in Germany when she was small, she faced constant bullying for being a Muslim and having brown skin. Her classmates and neighborhood kids used to taunt her by saying that her skin appeared so because she was dirty. When Sabina moved into the third grade, her parents shifted to Bangladesh, where she was embraced with the warmth of her extended family. In just 6 months of arriving in her native country, she learned to speak English and Bengali fluently.

A deep interest in the books written by Sidney Sheldon and Enid Blyton motivated her to read every book that was available in her school library. Due to the exposure to adult books at a young age, Sabina was introduced to the world of violence, sex, murder, and drugs, though she was not able to get hold of most of it. Several years later, Sabina started reading YA books that sparked her inner desire to write her own stories. While she was busy building her writing career, she was also focused on starting a tutoring company that was used to teach chemistry, English, math, and biology. After Sabina relocated to Canada with her family, she brought her business with her as well. Today, she lives in a diverse community and spends most of her time in expanding her teaching and writing careers. The scarcity of books revolving around Muslim LGBTQ characters enabled her to write one of her own. Now, Sabina is determined to tell such stories in all her future books as well. She hopes that all her upcoming books will also be well-received by readers across the globe.

The debut book written by author Sabina Khan is entitled ‘The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali’. It was released in 2019 by Scholastic Press. Sabina has set the story in Seattle, Washington; and Dhaka, Bangladesh. The central characters mentioned in this book include Rukhsana Ali, Ariana, Aunty Meena, Shaila, and several others. Initially, Rukhsana Ali is introduced as a 17-year-old Muslim girl staying in Seattle. Her parents are very conservative and she tries her best to live up to their expectations. As she grows older, she finds it much harder to do that. When Rukhsana’s parents favor her younger brother blatantly, she doesn’t scream and just rolls her eyes. To prevent herself from scolding, Rukhsana dresses conservatively at her home and uses her makeup kit and crop tops only during school parties, which her parents have no idea about.

Rukhsana is looking forward to pursuing her higher studies in Caltech and thinks that she just has to spend a few more months under the careful monitoring of her parents in Seattle. After that, she will be set free and will be able to live her life as per her wish. Shortly after, Rukhsana’s parents catch her kissing Ariana, her girlfriend. This leads to falling apart of all her plans. Her parents become devastated to find out that their daughter is gay. Fearing for their reputation in the Bengali community at home, Rukhsana’s parents send her to Bangladesh. While in Bangladesh, Rukhsana is exposed to the world of culture, tradition, and arranged marriages. The only respite she has is by reading the old diary of her grandmother that gives her some much-needed perspective. Later, Rukhsana gathers the courage to fight for what she believes and embraces her love. She wonders if she can do that without losing everything and everyone in life.

Another exciting novel penned by Sabina is known as ‘Realm of the Goddess’. It features the primary characters in the form of Callie, Mahisha, Shiv, Goddess Kali, etc. Initially, Callie is shown as a seventeen-year-old girl, who discovers that she is the Goddess Kali’s avatar. The discovery also makes her realize that she has to prevent the destruction of the world at the hands of the King of Demons named Mahisha. Before going on to face Mahisha, Callie is required to find the Knowledge Sword that was given to Kali around 5 thousand years ago. As she sets out to find the important weapon, she learns that she has to visit the deep regions of the Indian jungles to locate a temple that is talked about in legends. Throughout her treacherous journey, Callie deals with demons, evils, and mortal conspiracies. An enigmatic and gorgeous boy named Shiv accompanies Callie and the two find themselves attracted towards each other.