The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters: the debut heart warming women’s fiction novel from the much-loved winner of Great British Bake Off, the first book in the Amir Sisters series

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The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters took me I think four days to read (I usually take at least two weeks to read something no matter how long or short it is) because, even when not much was "happening" (as one reviewer complained about), the private thoughts and the complex relationships of the characters kept the story moving forward for me, compelling to me towards the end to see where everyone would end up. The story may not have a lot of "action" movement, but there is a great deal of emotional movement which I think is why, in the end, I enjoyed it so much. (That, and I just love stories about sisters.)

What’s the book like? It’s perfectly competent, as well it should be, as the “helper or “consultant” or whatever we’re supposed to call them these days is the highly talented Ayisha Malik, author of the funny and sparky Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged, a smart and acerbic romcom about a young woman writing a book on Muslim dating.She gets that a lot on social media. “I get bits of my books ripped apart because, am I English enough to be writing these things? It upsets me because there are cooks out there who… Jamie can do Italian. He’s allowed to own that as something he loves to do and something that is his, but I can’t do a Cornish pasty. That’s what’s wrong with this industry and that’s what’s wrong with this society and that’s what’s wrong with the world. Because I’m a daughter of an immigrant, because I am bilingual, because I’m a Muslim, because I’m a brown woman, because I don’t fit into that industry or fit into these worlds, I’m constantly up for scrutiny. I’m constantly up for questioning. I’m kind of fed up of it.” Like the rest of us, Nadiya has been using TVfor a bit of escapism. Unlike the rest of us, herchoices haven’t been the feel-good films we’vewatched in our thousands to lift our mood. ‘Ilook for things that are more depressing thanour current situation,’ she laughs, ‘and when Iwatch them, it makes me feel good. The Split onBBC makes you so grateful for everything aboutyour life. So does ITV’s Liar. Saying that, we alsospend a lot of time watching Disney movies.’ The book centers on four sisters – Fatima, Bubblee, Farah, and Mae. Bubblee and Farah are twins. The title is somewhat misleading as what secrets there are not really the sister’s (honesty, the one you think might be Bubblee’s never shows) but those of their family. Additionally, the book is almost wrapped about too neatly – though a couple plot threads are left, satisfying loose. There are a couple places where you are wondering – wow, really would that happen – but not too many. a b "Nadiya Hussain to judge Junior Bake Off". The Daily Telegraph. 9 August 2016 . Retrieved 4 November 2016.

Nadiya Hussain praised for "important" BBC documentary on anxiety". Radio Times . Retrieved 27 April 2020. Hussain is a Contributing Editor to UK's biggest food media brand, BBC's Good Food. [64] Hussain also writes a monthly column for The Times Magazine, a part of the Saturday supplement of The Times, [27] [65] [66] and was previously columnist for Essentials magazine. [67]

Vesey-Byrne, Joe (23 July 2017). "When she was tweeted Islamophobia, Nadiya Hussain had the perfect response". Indy 100 . Retrieved 23 July 2017. Allen, Ben (9 May 2018). "Nadiya Hussain quits The Big Family Cooking Showdown after just one series". Radio Times . Retrieved 12 May 2018. My wife and I have been huge fans of Nadiya Hussain ever since her appearance on “The Great British Bake Off”, watching her bloom from someone who doubted everything she was doing into some with a huge amount of confidence and personality. We were fortunate to meet her at an appearance not long after she won the series and every cookery book she has written is on a shelf somewhere in our home, so when she branched out into novel writing, it was inevitable that we would end up reading “The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters”. Whilst we knew there wouldn’t be tasty treats at the end of the novel the way there usually is with her books, the sparkle that seems to dominate her every move was likely to be present in the book, which would make it a decent read.