This was what I needed to read this weekend. A heartfelt story full of love and affection, brimming with humour and bringing more than one or two tears to my eye.
Northern Boy starts in the 1980s in Blackburn, with our main character Rafi obsessed with ABBA and determined not to have to go to Everton, the high school that promises daily torture for a boy who doesn’t fit in. Flamboyant and dramatic, Rafi has a flair for music and is encouraged in his choices by the wonderful Mr H. Yet he also has to deal with the pressure from his parents to do what makes them proud, and to not do anything that would cause shame amongst the neighbours.
From the outset it’s clear we’re looking at some difficult issues here, but everything is presented with a wry sense of humour and a keenly observant eye that makes it hard not to feel compassion and understanding for the characters (even if we might not agree with them).
We chart Raif’s story from boyhood to adulthood, and though a lot of it is tough to read it was a joy to share. 2024-reads owned-physical-books ya-juneafternoon2 s Ritu BhathalAuthor 5 books129

What a brilliant debut by Iqbal Hussain!
I love finding a voice where I can relate to the characters and the situations, and the story is compelling, too. This had all that in spades.
Northern Boy uses a dual timeline to tell the story of Rafi Aziz. It follows his childhood in Blackburn from the 1970s to the early 2000s as he returns home, ending with an ending in the present era.
Rafi Aziz is not your usual young Pakistani Muslim boy living in North England. He'd rather be dressing up with his best mate, Shazia, and dancing around her room, singing pop songs and Bollywood hits, than playing football with the rest of the lads.
Music has been a part of his growing up since he can remember, with a mother who sings with a beautiful voice around the house and dotes on her youngest son, encouraging her to join in with her all the time.
Things come to a head when the family realises that his talent is a passion, and he wants to pursue his love of music, singing, and dancing rather than become a doctor or an accountant.
Then, negativity starts, and "What would the neighbours/community say?" becomes more important than allowing Rafi to realise his dreams.
When we jolt forward, Rafi is older and more established as a well-known stage actor/performer, living a life he's sure his family would disapprove of in Australia. He heads back to his hometown for Shazia's wedding, where he has to deal with the fireworks and many concealed parts of his life are uncovered.
There were so many things I loved about this book. Rafi is a boy I could have met growing up. I knew of many who suppressed their interests because it wasn't the done thing.
I also really related to Maam, his mother, who was battling her cultural demons, missing her homeland, and wanting what was best for her children.
This is Billy Elliot, the British Pakistani Edit! An incredible immersion into the life of a boy who just wanted to follow his dreams.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Unbound for an ARC.1 Lee767 106

If you loved Billy Elliot, this book is for you. A wonderful story that will warm your heart and whisk you away into the world of a young Pakistani boy and his dreams. The story follows Rafi Aziz’s life from growing up in Blackburn in the 1970’s to his return in the early years of 2000.

Rafi knows he is different but the world of dress up and music will ensure his life is destined for greatness, it is just as a child he does not know this yet, all he does know is that he has dreams and desires that he wishes to fulfil. His family have other ideas, but it is his mother that as a young child unwittingly encourages these dreams, singing, and dancing with him but she tells him this is only in the inside world, not outside which is something Rafi struggles to understand. He lives in a world of few friends and every day at school is a struggle. One person he does have in his corner is Mr H, his music teacher and one that will have a wonderful impact on his life, encouraging him and telling him it is ok to be himself.

Soon Rafi wins a music school scholarship, leaves home and his dreams begin but to the detriment of his family and a mother who wished to just raise her children unobtrusively, wishing her son would grow up to be a doctor or accountant, careers she feels she can identify with and that will bring respect to the family. This is a story of being true to your identity and not allowing others to take this away from you, Rafi may not realise this when he is young, but he is strong, resilient and more talented than he can imagine.

A brilliant book that I highly recommend. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy, all opinions expressed are my own.1 Joey12

This book has been billed as 'Billy Elliot meets Bend It Beckham' but I think that's selling this novel short. I totally understand why novels are often billed as x meets y but I worry that it might imply a derivative nature. This is a unique narrative and a story that has been crying out to be told.

Personal story-time (with apologies, this is a pretty common feature in my when I relate deeply with a protagonist). I am British and I come from an Indian Bengali Hindu background. In Asian communities, at the risk of generalising: 1. People are not encouraged, or are indeed actively discouraged, to pursue the arts. 2. Homosexuality is still pretty invisible.

I'm a lesbian and even though my parents are entirely accepting, I wouldn't dream of coming out to anyone in the community. I was visiting my parents this past weekend and my mother's friend came over. During the usual catch-up conversation, she asked me if I was thinking of men and marriage in the near future. There's always the temptation to just confess 'I'M GAY' and watch the person's reaction - apparently even my mother was tempted to do it this time - but it really doesn't feel worth it. I don't expect outright condemnation, but I certainly expect the atmosphere to be immediately uncomfortable, so I really related to that aspect of the book.

This novel contains the increasingly popular structure of starting in the present, then going back and forth from the past. The past section begins in 1981, where Rafi lives with his parents in Blackburn. I was kid in the late nineties/early noughties and Rafi is from a Pakistani Muslim background so I can't pretend to fully understand his experience, but one does not need to in order to understand what Rafi goes through. Hussain is an absolutely wonderful writer and everyone can relate to being a child and responding to an unfair society, at an age when it's impossible to understand why on earth the world is so flawed, and why the adults don't just fix it.

In the present, roughly late 2001/2002 (stated as several months after 9/11), Rafi is a musical theatre star living in Australia with his loving boyfriend. His best friend's wedding brings him back to the UK, where he struggles to reconcile his genuine identity with a community that is still largely hostile to gay people.

I loved the way that relationships were written in this book. A special shout-out to the character of Mr H, Rafi's music teacher, who in a classic case of dramatic irony is evidently a gay man to the reader, with Rafi none the wiser at the time.

What really moved my heart was Rafi's relationship with his mother. She absolutely adores her son and we feel it in her dialogue and actions, but she also struggles with Rafi being a gender nonconforming boy who prefers dressing up to football, and singing to academic studies. There is a scene between an adult Rafi and his mother late in the novel which made me sob. I will not elaborate further, to avoid spoilers, but it is the strongest scene in the novel for me. I found the ending very satisfying and I'll be eagerly looking out for more work from this author.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Unbound for the ARC!


bame lgbt1 Megz8

Brilliant 1 Lisa27

This review also features on Diary of an Ink Drinker

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 child 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 own2024 arc favorites1 Owais41 4

It is scary of how much this novel resonates with me personally, and how much I share with the protagonist, to living in Australia and sharing the cultural Pakistani back ground with the protagonist … right down to particular kind bullying - the shared experience hits much harder and deeper for someone myself. When the author mentions a song from Pakeezah, about weather being romantic and finding sweetheart, I know it is Mausam hai Aashiqana or another RD Burman song about youth and love I know it is Do Lafzon ki hai yeh kahaani - or references to the words makeupshakeup, the broken English or even the madeup words

Northern boy is an emotionally charged coming of age debut by Iqbal Hussain that delves into a lot of themes of belonging, self reflection, acceptance and family dynamics. Sure it is a billy Elliot style story of a creative soul trying to break free from his conservative surroundings and follows the expected beats of it all, growing up, love for ABBA, desires and dreams of being a showman, Bollywood music and mother son relationship, it also reminded me of Fourteen by Shannon Molloy.. but it is much more than that - it is about letting go, letting go of prejudices, self criticism and letting go of grudges and realising one is a product of their circumstances and sometimes more similar to the people the ones you avoid becoming and dis - but the writer does not spare the protagonist from showing the mirror on this conundrum and their flaws as well holding them accountable - the writer tells as much as shows this where the protagonist’s behaviour before the confrontation and consequences of their actions flipping over their victim card half way through the book.

The big climax scene has been set up well especially between the main mother-son relationship and how it transpires. The generational trauma of displacement, homesickness and a sense of seeing the other side of life of people surrounding you, seeing every one has their own struggles and seeing them as people rather than an extension of a relationship you share with them and how those traumas affect you as an adult

Yes the book is long and yes there is a lot there and yes there are at least three books in here but the life either does not happen in solitude incidents either with things happening all the same time. It does try to explore a lot. The book does not over indulges its settings, but It could be edited down. Some words could use hyphens but I am nitpicking here. The novel does rush through towards the end but it needed that ending

A wholesome debut that explores a multitude of facets that could come across as bit ticking off on every trope but then all those have come about from lived experiences. Queer South Asian experience stories are rare to come by and this one is a charming one

Thank you NetGalley and Unbound publishers for the e-ARC in exchange for an independent review KathVBtn571 24

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. Sherry Moyer253

What a brilliant debut novel, tackling difficult topics with unwavering, unapologetic honesty. It’s Billy Elliot told through the eyes of a young Pakistani boy growing up in Northern England in the 1970s.

Told in a dual timeline, we learn about adult Rafi and his life in Australia with the man he loves and Rafi the child who grew up poor and tormented in a small town, in a country that didn’t want him.

——
Rafi Aziz grew up during ABBA’s heyday, when Bollywood was king — and he is here for it.

It’s obvious from the start that young Rafi is a gifted musician and singer, pounding out tunes on a toy piano, effortlessly adding harmonies to songs where none existed. And, as the baby of three, he is m unmistakably his mother’s favorite. She, too, is a lover of music, color, and patterns, and she encourages him to sing and dance.

Until she doesn’t.

It becomes obvious to Rafi that other than best friend Shazia, the other kids, including his older brother, don’t accept him, making fun of him, beating him up, leaving him fearful of the upper school he’s meant to attend.

But there is no word in the Pakistani language for gay, no acknowledgment of it because it simply doesn’t exist. Rafi can’t exist as he wants.

When he wins a scholarship to a music school, Rafi leaves home at ten years old and never looks back. For him, it’s a matter of survival. He needs to find a place where he belongs, turning his back on a family that doesn’t accept him.

But there is another story here, a quieter one, a more delicate one, the story of a Pakistani woman who didn’t want to move from her home to another country, a person who could neither read nor write, a mother raising three kids ostensibly on her own.

A woman who struggles between a country and its beliefs and the love of an unapologetically flamboyant son. Being a mother, her story gently reminds you, isn’t ever easy. You give your whole self to someone and hope that they can find happiness. That you want ease and acceptance and joy but understanding you can’t control any of it.

This emotionally charged coming of age story dives into family, self-love, and belonging, and doesn’t apologize when things get difficult. Even when Rafi is selfish, self indulgent, when he realizes he wasn’t always right, you love him just the same.

Maybe even a little more.

It’s Pride Month, and it’s a time in the world when we should lift the voices of authors Iqbal Hussain. Please, do yourself a favor and read this one. It’ll make you feel all the things.

Thanks to @netgalley and @unbound for the eARC. This one comes out June 6, 2024. zaheerah470 121

*I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.*

In 1981, in Blackburn, young Rafi dreams of the big screen, just 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 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.arcs net-galley Donna90 2

Meet 10-year-old Rafi Aziz, your next Bollywood star! The youngest of three growing up in 1980s Lancashire, England, born to a hard-working father and overly indulgent mother in a traditional Pakistani neighborhood where his mother is always concerned with "what will the neighbors think?". He was born into a patriarchal society filled with cultural taboos and strong family expectations.

Childhood is filled with challenges, and at times trauma - Rafi's is filled with both. Rafi never feels he fits in with his peers in the neighborhood or school, has few friends, is the target of bullies, loves to sing, dance, and make music rather than play sports, and is quite emotional. His beloved music teacher, Mr. H refers to him as "a butterfly among bricks". He doesn't understand how or why he is "different. His favorite activity with his only friend Shazia is dressing up (makeup and all) as Agnetha from ABBA, singing and dancing in true Bollywood style rather than playing football with the boys as his mother so often suggests.

Rafi's big chance to shine comes when his choir is asked to sing on TV with ABBA. He idolized ABBA, knows every song and dance step, and sees this as a step toward his Bollywood goal. Even though his mother always encourages and often joins in with Rafi's singing and dancing, she refuses to sign his permission slip for the trip. This is the beginning of the negativity he faces as his parents expect him "to be a good boy" who becomes a doctor or accountant, marries Pakistani girl, and has a big family as tradition dictates. Does he conform or break free? He struggles as he realizes he cannot make his parents happy/proud and yet be true to himself.

Follow Rafi's life (in dual timeline form) from age 10 to today as he navigates prejudices, loss, family fractures, success, failure, love, and truly finding peace with himself.

As I read this I frequently wondered how much Rafi's story paralleled the early life of Farrokh Bulsara aka the late Freddie Mercury of Queen. The day I finished reading this I also read that ABBA was awarded knighthood from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf. Rafi would have swooned!

Thank you NetGalley and Unbound for the allowing me to read this ARC.dc-netgalley netgalley Northie53

This is a very enjoyable debut.

On one level, you could take it as a Bollywood version of Billy Eliot. On many others, it is a meditation on family, being yourself, and the perils (real or perceived) of returning to your roots after forging your own life.

It's the early 2000s, Rafi Aziz, a successful, queer, Aussie-based producer of stage musicals, is returning to the UK for the wedding of his best friend. A long, long flight is broken up by a succession of scenes from his childhood in 1980's Blackburn as a first generation Pakistani immigrant. Rafi knows he's different. At first his mother indulges his love of singing and dancing. This changes abruptly when Rafi announces (with help from an inspirational music teacher) that he wants to make performing his life.

Iqbal Hussain writes with affection for growing up in a first-generation Pakistani household living in the mill towns of 1980's South Yorkshire. Affection but also a clear-eyed view of the difficulties of growing up queer at that time and as part of that community. Through this book, I thoroughly enjoyed being invited into the heart of a community I'm not part of.arcs music queer-reads ...more Jill236 1 follower

This is an emotionally charged novel about a young Pakistani boy growing up in Bradford. Often attired in dresses he is not averse to comments about his sexuality. His lifetime ambition is to become a movie star and this is further encouraged by an American music teacher in his junior school amidst the background of a community who do not tolerate different behaviours. As Rafi matures his individual character develops and to escape the tensions and prejudices he moves to Australia and rekindles his relationship with his childhood friend David.

Beautifully written, with empathy and compassion, this novel shows the struggles of a Muslim Pakastani family separated by distance and a lack of acceptance to modern relationships.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this engaging e-ARC in return for an independent review. Cassie Holland355 5

Hurrah – a book set north of the Watford Gap. I enjoyed the descriptions of life in Blackburn, having personal knowledge of the area. Rafi is encouraged by his mother to emulate the Bollywood stars of her youth. As he becomes ready to enter the senior school system he is suddenly expected to “man up”, become a macho man which is totally against his nature.
In a series of flashbacks his back story unfolds and explains how he leaves the hard environment of his home area to become a star performer residing in Australia.

It is a well written novel but there are no surprises – no “I didn’t see that coming” moments.

I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Elena38

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.

Gail Atkins475 11

A heartfelt story of a young Pakistani boy growing up in the 1980's where the NF marches were frequent and AIDS was a coming to the forefront in the world.
Raif is a young Muslim boy who loves the flamboyant lifestyle of Bollywood and ABBA. He has to take on his family and community for his wishes, as well as coming to terms with the fact that he is gay.
Later in the book, we find him as an adult living in Australia, he returns back to the UK and his world falls apart.
This book made me laugh and cry. A great debut novel. Victoria Rose17 4

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 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. Farah G1,121 25

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