Razia
By Abda Khan
A fast-paced literary thriller that exposes Britain’s darkest secret
Publication date: Summer 2019
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Farah is a young lawyer living and working in London. She’s just ended a long relationship, and her parents are looking for a husband - whether Farah wants one or not. So far, so normal. But at a work dinner, hosted by a dangerously powerful man, she comes across a young woman called Razia, who Farah soon realises is being kept as a domestic slave.
The novel follows Farah’s daring investigations from the law courts of London to the brick kilns of Pakistan, uncovering the traps that keep generations enslaved. She encounters deep-rooted oppression and corruption everywhere she turns; when the authorities finally step in, their actions have tragic results.
Farah teams up with a human rights lawyer, Ali, and the two become close… but can she trust him; can they help Razia and others like her; will they ever discover the explosive secret behind these disastrous events?
Razia is a literary novel based on years of research, but with the pace and intrigue of the best kind of thriller. Abda writes with authority, sympathy and a heart-stopping plot that will have readers gasping until the very last page. This is Britain’s darkest secret, made human. This is Razia’s story.
* 13,000: the number of people kept in slavery in the UK (the Home Office)
* 40 million slaves worldwide (International Labour Organisation and Walk Free Foundation)
* “A contemporary Tess of the D’Urbervilles”: Abda Khan’s first novel, Stained (Booklist)
* “Commended”: Abda Khan (2017 Nat West Asian Woman of Achievement Awards)
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Abda Khan
Abda Khan is an author and lawyer, and a passionate advocate for women’s rights. She won the Noor Inayat Khan Muslim Woman of the Year Award 2019 and was highly commended in the 2017 NatWest Asian Women of Achievement Awards in the Arts & Culture category. Her first novel, Stained, was published in 2016. She writes fiction that deals with challenging and often taboo subjects, such as rape and ‘honour’ abuse (as featured in her novel Stained), and modern day slavery in Razia.
Abda also undertakes voluntary work as a Trustee with Birmingham & Solihull Womens Aid, as a mentor, and as a Lloyd’s Bank Women of the Future Ambassador. She is dedicated to bringing awareness to the issues she writes about, and to empowering others, as a speaker engaging with schools, youth groups, women’s organisations, community groups, prisons, and community radio and television. - Read more...
By the time Razia reached home, she had very much forgotten about all the negative thoughts that had charged through her mind not long ago, and she smiled quietly to herself as she remembered Ahmed's soft touch and hypnotic voice. In a few days, a week at the most, she thought to herself, Ahmed's family would come over and seek the betrothal. Hopefully, her father would be agreeable, and even if her brother wasn’t keen, her father would have the final decision, and she was quietly confident that he would say yes. Then the sneaking around would all be over. She would marry the love of her life, and she would be in bliss. She was sure that she would be the happiest girl alive, for so very few women in these parts ever managed to marry for love. Mostly the girls in her village were given away in matrimony as part of arranged or forced marriages. Their opinion was never considered to be worthy or even relevant enough to be sought, let alone their consent ever obtained; they were simply told who they were to be married to, and when. It was all a matter of quiet acceptance to whatever fate had in store for them, for every single aspect of their lives was mapped out by the men; firstly, by their fathers and brothers, and then after their marriage, by their husbands and their fathers. Razia was grateful that the family that would be coming to seek her betrothal would be the family of the man that she loved fervently.
When Razia stepped into the courtyard, her mother, Nusrat, was sat on the peeriby the stove. When she wasn't at the brick kiln, her mother would usually be found here, sat on the near ground level handmade stool, preparing the food. However, today, she did not appear to be cooking. In fact, she had her face down in her chaddar. Her whole body was floppily drooped forwards. Her shoulders moved up and down rhythmically, and she looked as though she was crying, although if she was, she did so silently. Her asthmatic wheeze was the only audible sound, like a soft intermittent whistle.
- 11th August 2019 A month since publication
Hi!
It has been a month since publication of my novel Razia, and what a busy month it has been with book events and interviews.
Crucially, Razia has been really well received by book bloggers and readers. It is at 4.5 stars on Amazon, and 4.4 on Goodreads. I have received so many personal messages from readers far and wide thanking me for writing such a gripping novel that tackles the difficult…
9th July 2019 A heartfelt thank you xDear friend
The time has finally arrived; Razia will be published on 11 July.
I wanted to write and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the support you have shown for this project. Without you, this novel, which has an important message about modern slavery, would not have been possible.
I hope you have enjoyed reading it, or you will enjoy reading it when you get around to it! If…
14th April 2019 Nearly There!Hi everyone
I haven’t done an update for a while, but I believe the special editions of Razia should on the way to you in the week beginning 22 April, so I thought I would get in touch to say, once again, thank you so much for pledging your support and backing the novel.
The road to publication of this book has not been an easy one, but we are almost there, and I am grateful to you for sharing…
8th June 2018 I am editing!Hi everyone
It has been a while since my last update. The good news is the I am now working with an amazing editor, Liz, and after our recent meeting at the Unbound offices, I am currently going through and making the first round of edits to Razia. I hope to get these finished by the end of July, after which Liz and I will discuss round two! It is quite lovely to revisit the novel in this detailed…
28th February 2018 Razia is going to be published!!Hello!
I am so thrilled that Razia has now hit its funding target.
And I would like to say thank you so much for pledging your support and helping to make this a reality. I look forward to enjoying this journey with you towards publication and beyond.
Best wishes
Abda
22nd February 2018 Almost there!Hi everyone
I am so pleased to say funding for Razia has reached 96%! I am so grateful to you for your support.
If you know of anyone who may want to pledge, be it a friend, a colleague or someone in your family, please do share the link with them, to help get this project to the finish line. There is so little contempoary fiction that ever touches on the plight of modern day slaves, and I hope…
19th January 2018 New Video About RaziaHello everyone
Please find below and attached the link to a video relating to my new book - please share as widely as you can!
Thank you!
Abda Khan
5th December 2017 Free Beautiful NotebookHello there!
I’m giving away these gorgeous, bespoke ‘Razia’ notebooks with the next 50 pledges received!
To claim yours, simply place your pledge at www.unbound.com/books/razia, then email me on abdakhan@aol.com
I look forward to posting one out to you
Abda :)
11th July 2017 Lots of 'Razia' Stuff Going On!Hi everyone
I have had so much going on recently that I feel I must share it with you.
Firstly, the crowdfunding campaign for Razia is beginning to gain quite a lot of attention. I was on BBC Radio West MIdlands recently talking about it, and I will be on the Breakfast show on BBC Radio Leeds on Monday 17 July so listen in if you can. I have also filmed an interview with British Muslim TV (sky…
4th June 2017 An excerpt from RaziaToday, it was scorching hot; the mid-afternoon sun was relentless in its pursuit to spread its iridescent light across the land as far as the eye could see.
Razia’s face shone as red as a bride’s freshly painted henna by the time she reached the stream. Once she was at the edge, she took off her sandals and carried them in one hand, and with the other she gently lifted her shalwar well above her…
12th May 2017 Highly Commended in the Asian Women of Achievement AwardsI am really delighted to have received a 'Highly Commended' in the Arts & Culture category of the Nat West Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2017. Just to be shortlisted from amongst hundreds of candidates was amazing in itself, but this recognition is wonderful, and gives me even more confidence and energy in my quest for Razia to be published.
If you haven't already done so, please share…
These people are helping to fund Razia.
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Jared Shurin
Jessica Foster
An anonymous donor
Barry Featherston
Judy Munday
Sandra Armor
Bilal Mehboob
Nasreen Qamar
George Ballentyne
Safia Boot
Zahra Qureshi
Jesse Kaur
Anita Mir
Carlo Navato
Jessica Duchen
Jackie Breen
Ioanna Schuppert
Fozia Nasim
Carolyn HEAth
Nick Morgan
Rukhsana Masood
Abda Khan
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Dear Abda, I have just finished Razia. I found it a compelling book and couldn't put it down. Your style drew me in and kept my attention to the very end. Thank you for writing such an interesting and educational story. It has given me lots of things to think about on modern day slavery. Kind regards Jane Richardson
Dear Jane Thank you so much for getting in touch, and for your kind comments. It was my intention to produce a novel that was a real page turner, but one that also drew attention to the problem of modern slavery. It’s really lovely to hear that you found the story to be both compelling and educational. Thank you for taking the time to contact me. It really does mean a lot. Best wishes Abda