Your roots can always lead you home…

Amjad cradles his baby daughter in the middle of the night. He has no time to mourn his wife’s death. Saahil and Zahra, his two small children, are relying on him. Amjad vows to love and protect them always.

Years later, Saahil and his best friend, Ehsan, have finished university and are celebrating with friends. But when the night turns dangerous, its devastating effects will ripple through the years to come.

Zahra is now her father’s only source of comfort. Life has taken her small family in different directions – will they ever find their way back to each other?

The Family Tree is the moving story of a British Muslim family full of love, laughter and resilience as well as all the faults, mistakes and stubborn loyalties which make us human.

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE PORTICO PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS

LONGLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS’ CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD

WINNER OF CALIBRE AUDIO’S ‘HIDDEN GEM’ AWARD

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‘Poignantly paints the extraordinary in ordinary lives’ THE SUNDAY POST

‘An engrossing and moving story’ CLARE CHAMBERS, author of Small Pleasures

‘An evocative portrayal of love and family’ AYISHA MALIK

'Invites you in, not as a stranger but as a family friend’ KATIE FFORDE

‘A masterclass in representation and brilliant writing’ ZEBA TALKHANI, author of My Past is a Foreign Country

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How can you live in the present when you’re trying to bury the past?

Ramadan, 2017. Yusuf wakes in the middle of the night to pray. His routine is always the same, but something tells him that tonight is different. Yellow flames blur Yusuf’s vision, and the laughter of a small child echoes in his ears. But this time, the red, smoke-filled skies aren’t just in his memory.

Miles away, Rubi is also awake. On the television, she watches reports of a devastating fire in London. She is already anxious when her parents send her to stay with her Grandpa Yusuf, whose conservative house rules are almost as unbearable as the loneliness she feels at home. Yusuf’s lifestyle does not gel with Rubi’s. But when she finds him scared and confused one night, it becomes clear that there’s more to her grandfather than Rubi ever considered.

As Yusuf grapples with the past, Rubi is determined to save him. But the memories that are recovered and spoken of for the first time in years are more painful than she could have imagined.

From the Costa Prize-shortlisted author of The Family Tree and Women's Prize x Good Housekeeping Futures Finalist, Hidden Fires is a powerful story of grief and loss, the power of family and the long arm of history.

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‘A sweeping tale of resilience’ i News

'An ineffably touching novel by a talented young author' Saga Magazine

'Harrowing yet uplifting…A visceral exploration of family, identity and loss' Sunday Post

'A tale of how we can live together yet be so far apart, and of how bridges can be built' Woman's Weekly

‘Hussain captures a thousand untold stories in one’ The New Arab

‘There are not only hidden fires in this novel, but myriad hidden lives … It treats difficult, serious subjects of buried trauma with real care, combined with a lightness of touch that carries the novel with humour, surprise and love’ Ross Raisin, author of A Hunger