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’s world is alight with politics and activism. But she is now her father’s only source of comfort, and worries she’ll never have time for her own aspirations. Life has taken her small family in different directions – will they ever find their way back to each other?
I was so excited to grab myself a spot on the blog tour for this debut, thanks to HQ Stories for having me and sending me a copy of three beautifully covered The Family Tree by Sairish Hussain that’s due to be published on the 20th of February. You can grab your hardback, e-book or audible copy here. If you’re more of a paperback fan, you can pre-order for its June publication day.
Sairish Hussain was born and brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire. She studied English Language and Literature at the University of Huddersfield and progressed onto an MA in Creative Writing. Sairish completed her PhD in 2019 after being awarded the university’s Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship. The Family Tree is her debut novel and she is now writing her second book.
The Family Tree is a powerful unravelling of a British Family as grief is an echoing component in their lives, an experience that ripple effects those within proximity. This evoking coming of age novel hit me in all the feels, especially as the story develops over the period of time – connecting with the characters on different levels that allowed the storyline to grasp me further. We have Zahra, who was born from loss and with each yearly chapter we see her develop as an individual and into a young adult. Zahra, a young woman becoming aware of her personal identity within her culture, especially during times of panic that drawn it into the public eye. This is when we experience the strength and rage that swirls within her, but me as the reader applauded both her strength and resilience, her maturity and drive.
This novel is a gorgeously written, reflecting upon the ties of a family impacted by shocking events, while trying to determine what their family means now – although the tree of life branches of in various directions, we are still connected by the roots of that tree. This is the idea behind The Family Tree, the true importance of family and how you always have a home. I adored this read, I read it over a free weekend and loved every single word. Not only has Sairish created a family dynamic of characters that I as a reader couldn’t help but connect with on some sort of level, the depth of development she provided is captivating. Although The Family Tree is stunningly written, that doesn’t mean that heartbreak and tragedy doesn’t lurk amongst these pages, because it does. At times I felt myself gasping, holding my breath, as well as feeling the heartbreak, loss and at times happiness that is flecked throughout.
The yearly labelled chapters really worked for me, as well as the flicking back and forth of character views, a family is a unit, each member with individual thoughts and feelings. Sairish, by penning The Family Tree this way has allowed us not only to create a picture of the family as a whole but also how each member works individually. This book ticked all my boxes, it is an utterly superb debut and I am looking forward to reading Sairish’s next book!
Thanks again to HQ Stories for sending me out a copy of The Family Tree, you really made my Storm Ciara weekend! Thanks to everyone for reading my review, have you pre-ordered your copy? Can’t wait to see what you think!
Until next time,
Happy reading!
The Reading Closet 