BOOKS BY SHAMIM
The Shadow Mission
The gripping sequel to The Athena Protocol, a feminist Bourne Identity that New York Times bestselling author Patrick Ness called “a ferocious, take-no-prisoners thriller that actually thrills!”
Jessie Archer is a headstrong young woman – and the most talented agent working for Athena, a secret rogue agency dedicated to helping women that governments don’t care about.
She and her team are tasked with finding out who is terrorising girls’ schools in India dedicated to helping teenagers find a route out of arranged marriages – and they come up against a powerful, ruthless consortium determined to resist progress at any cost.
As Jessie embarks on a life-threatening mission to stop a new attack, she teams with a young woman from the Mumbai police force. But as the clock ticks down, the Athena women are forced into an impossible moral dilemma – sacrifice someone close to them or lose hundreds of lives.
The Shadow Mission
The gripping sequel to The Athena Protocol, a feminist Bourne Identity that New York Times bestselling author Patrick Ness called “a ferocious, take-no-prisoners thriller that actually thrills!”
Jessie Archer is a headstrong young woman – and the most talented agent working for Athena, a secret rogue agency dedicated to helping women that governments don’t care about.
She and her team are tasked with finding out who is terrorising girls’ schools in India dedicated to helping teenagers find a route out of arranged marriages – and they come up against a powerful, ruthless consortium determined to resist progress at any cost.
As Jessie embarks on a life-threatening mission to stop a new attack, she teams with a young woman from the Mumbai police force. But as the clock ticks down, the Athena women are forced into an impossible moral dilemma – sacrifice someone close to them or lose hundreds of lives.
REVIEWS
“A badass, action-packed, feminist page-turner”
~ Kirkus Reviews
“Sarif throws readers back into the action-packed world of Athena that keeps readers turning pages. With female spies, arch enemies, and quick pacing, this book will be a hit with anyone. Jessie, Caitlin, and Hala are reminiscent of Charlie’s Angels without Charlie in the speaker box.”
~ School Library Journal
“Finally! The female version of James Bond we’ve been waiting for! Only better — this team of black-ops spies exclusively kick ass and take the names of those who prey on women and girls: With a global scope, and just a hint of romance, it makes taking down the patriarchy fun.”
~ Natalie C. Anderson, author of CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES
REVIEWS
“A badass, action-packed, feminist page-turner”
~ Kirkus Reviews
“Sarif throws readers back into the action-packed world of Athena that keeps readers turning pages. With female spies, arch enemies, and quick pacing, this book will be a hit with anyone. Jessie, Caitlin, and Hala are reminiscent of Charlie’s Angels without Charlie in the speaker box.”
~ School Library Journal
“Finally! The female version of James Bond we’ve been waiting for! Only better — this team of black-ops spies exclusively kick ass and take the names of those who prey on women and girls: With a global scope, and just a hint of romance, it makes taking down the patriarchy fun.”
~ Natalie C. Anderson, author of CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES
“This riveting, female-centered romp includes diverse characters—African American, Palestinian, South Asian British—who have layered and complex backstories. Jessie examines her privilege with occasional flippant snark and questions global power dynamics and the treatment of women around the world…Thrillingly representative female empowerment.” READ FULL REVIEW
~ Kirkus Reviews
“A fascinating and action-packed read that features some incredible female characters with broad appeal for fans of thrillers and spy stories…a must-read.” READ FULL REVIEW
~ YA Books Central
The Athena Protocol
Desperate to prove herself, Jessie launches her own investigation—but going rogue means there’s no one there to watch her back as she gets closer to the horrifying truth behind the Belgrade operation. And in spite of herself, she’s falling for a woman who is likely behind the very evil she’s striving to take down.
REVIEWS
“Imagine if Mission: Impossible were run by young, brilliant, ultra-skilled female operatives who undertook rogue operations to save the women and girls of the world from kidnappers and traffickers. Shamim Sarif has written a ferocious, take-no-prisoners thriller that actually thrills, with a deep heart and characters you’ll adore. What a wonderful and exciting new voice in YA. More please!”
~ Patrick Ness, NY Times Bestselling Author of A MONSTER CALLS and THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE
“Finally! The female version of James Bond we’ve been waiting for! Only better — this team of black-ops spies exclusively kick ass and take the names of those who prey on women and girls: warlords and human traffickers. With a diverse cast of heroes and villains, a global scope, and just a hint of romance, it makes taking down the patriarchy fun.”
~ Natalie C. Anderson, author of CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES
MORE REVIEWS
“This riveting, female-centered romp includes diverse characters—African American, Palestinian, South Asian British—who have layered and complex backstories. Jessie examines her privilege with occasional flippant snark and questions global power dynamics and the treatment of women around the world…Thrillingly representative female empowerment.” READ FULL REVIEW
~ Kirkus Reviews
“A fascinating and action-packed read that features some incredible female characters with broad appeal for fans of thrillers and spy stories…a must-read.” READ FULL REVIEW
~ YA Books Central
REVIEWS
“Imagine if Mission: Impossible were run by young, brilliant, ultra-skilled female operatives who undertook rogue operations to save the women and girls of the world from kidnappers and traffickers. Shamim Sarif has written a ferocious, take-no-prisoners thriller that actually thrills, with a deep heart and characters you’ll adore. What a wonderful and exciting new voice in YA. More please!”
~ Patrick Ness, NY Times Bestselling Author of A MONSTER CALLS and THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE
“Finally! The female version of James Bond we’ve been waiting for! Only better — this team of black-ops spies exclusively kick ass and take the names of those who prey on women and girls: warlords and human traffickers. With a diverse cast of heroes and villains, a global scope, and just a hint of romance, it makes taking down the patriarchy fun.”
~ Natalie C. Anderson, author of CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES
“This riveting, female-centered romp includes diverse characters—African American, Palestinian, South Asian British—who have layered and complex backstories. Jessie examines her privilege with occasional flippant snark and questions global power dynamics and the treatment of women around the world…Thrillingly representative female empowerment.” READ FULL REVIEW
~ Kirkus Reviews
“A fascinating and action-packed read that features some incredible female characters with broad appeal for fans of thrillers and spy stories…a must-read.” READ FULL REVIEW
~ YA Books Central
Despite the Falling Snow
Despite the Falling Snow
In present-day Boston, seventy-year-old Alexander Ivanov has built a successful business empire. A kind, passionate man, he has managed to bury the tragic memories surrounding his early life in post-Stalinist Russia with his charismatic late wife, Katya—or so he believes.
Into his life come two women: one will open up the heart Alexander has protected for so long; the other is determined to uncover the truth about what really happened to Katya all those years ago.
Despite the Falling Snow journeys back to the snowbound streets of 1950s Moscow, revealing a city of secrets and treachery, a world of true love lost and friendships betrayed. For only by confronting the past can Alexander move on to his future.
REVIEWS
~ Waterstone’s Books Quarterly (UK)
“Despite the Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif, one of our most outstanding young novelists, is my novel of the year: its delicate artistry and immense compass reaches back to the labyrinthine heart of Soviet Russia.”
~ Stevie Davies, The Independent
MORE REVIEWS
~ Steve Yarbrough, author of The Oxygen Man
“A perfectly balanced novel of love and tragedy…brutally shocking. The beauty of the streets of Moscow, the bejewelled architecture of the metro stations, is all a majestic backdrop to a play of mistrust and deception, where friends, even the best of friends, can turn against each other in fear.”
~ Waterstones Magazine
“Despite the Falling Snow contains all the ingredients of a good thriller: intrigue, suspense, and romance…Sarif gives each character her due; she does not lead us to belittle Estelle’s ordinariness or to idealize Katya’s courage. Both women are portrayed in their fullness: Estelle’s humor, warmth, and desire for connection; Katya’s lies, doubts, and evasions.”
~ The Boston Globe
“Shamim Sarif’s intense and elegant first novel drew on her South African roots. This one shows that her cultural compass can stretch even wider without dulling the delicacy of her gaze….Highly readable.”
~ The Independent
“This story is, quite literally, breathtaking.”
~ The Good Book Guide
“Explores love and tragic loss with the pace of a thriller and a style that is gentle and flowing, a hypnotic combination that eases between the US and 1950s Moscow. . . . A pure delight, highly recommended.”
~ The Bookseller
“An intriguing story of love, betrayal, anguish and despair… Shamim Sarif brings her characters to life with a delicacy of touch evocative of the intensity of their passions. An enthralling read.”
~ Daily Dispatch
REVIEWS
“A perfectly balanced novel of love and tragedy.”
~ Waterstone’s Books Quarterly (UK)
“Despite the Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif, one of our most outstanding young novelists, is my novel of the year: its delicate artistry and immense compass reaches back to the labyrinthine heart of Soviet Russia.”
~ Stevie Davies, The Independent
“Sarif’s thrilling new novel makes me think of the The English Patient and The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Like those books, it has at its core an unforgettable love story. Yet Sarif also understands the human cost exacted by totalitarian systems. And she knows that the worst betrayals are those committed by the ones we love. Her novel is immensely powerful – and deeply moving.”
~ Steve Yarbrough, author of The Oxygen Man
“A perfectly balanced novel of love and tragedy…brutally shocking. The beauty of the streets of Moscow, the bejewelled architecture of the metro stations, is all a majestic backdrop to a play of mistrust and deception, where friends, even the best of friends, can turn against each other in fear.”
~ Waterstone’s Magazine
“Despite the Falling Snow contains all the ingredients of a good thriller: intrigue, suspense, and romance…Sarif gives each character her due; she does not lead us to belittle Estelle’s ordinariness or to idealize Katya’s courage. Both women are portrayed in their fullness: Estelle’s humor, warmth, and desire for connection; Katya’s lies, doubts, and evasions.”
~ The Boston Globe
“Shamim Sarif’s intense and elegant first novel drew on her South African roots. This one shows that her cultural compass can stretch even wider without dulling the delicacy of her gaze….Highly readable.”
~ The Independent
“This story is, quite literally, breathtaking.”
~ The Good Book Guide
“Explores love and tragic loss with the pace of a thriller and a style that is gentle and flowing, a hypnotic combination that eases between the US and 1950s Moscow. . . . A pure delight, highly recommended.”
~ The Bookseller
“An intriguing story of love, betrayal, anguish and despair… Shamim Sarif brings her characters to life with a delicacy of touch evocative of the intensity of their passions. An enthralling read.”
~ Daily Dispatch
The World Unseen
In 1950’s South Africa, free-spirited Amina has broken all the rules of her own conventional Indian community, and the new apartheid-led government, by running a cafe with Jacob her “coloured” business partner. When she meets Miriam, a young wife and mother, their unexpected attraction pushes Miriam to question the rules that bind her. When Amina helps Miriam’s sister-in-law to hide from the police, a chain of events is set in motion that changes both women forever.
The World Unseen transports us to a vibrant, colourful world, a world that divides white from black and women from men, but one that might just allow an unexpected love to survive. Now a major motion picture from award-winning director Shamim Sarif.
Winner of the Betty Trask Award and the Pendleton May First Novel Award.
REVIEWS
~ The Times
“I read The World Unseen at a gulp, so entrancing is its style, so complete its tale of love and betrayal, and so accurate its depiction of the physical, social and political scene…”
~ Johannesburg Star, Book of the Week
MORE REVIEWS
~ Maggie O’Farrell, author of After You’d Gone and My Lover’s Lover
“The characters shine with the beauty of Sarif’s deceptively skilful prose which keeps your eyes skating along the narrative in sheer enjoyment. I read this book in two long sittings, unable to put it down.”
~ Dyverse
“Sarif’s elegant and understated debut eschews emotional fireworks, and offers an unusual insight into early apartheid… a novel that lives up to its title.”
~ The Times, Play
“In the tradition of Vikram Seth, Sarif throws down a literary gauntlet that very few writers will be able to pick and return with any conviction.”
~ Pride
“Highly original… this is a stylishly written work. Sarif is near faultless…”
~ India Weekly
“If you only read one novel for the rest of the year, make it this one. Sarif is a new writer who deserves to win prizes.”
~ Waterstones
“One of the most promising of a new generation of British writers…Sarif’s debut is confident, original and jam-packed with insight”
~ The List
REVIEWS
“It is an impressive debut. Sarif’s story brings together the descriptive power of the novelist with the screenwriter’s mastery of dialogue”
~ The Times
“I read The World Unseen at a gulp, so entrancing is its style, so complete its tale of love and betrayal, and so accurate its depiction of the physical, social and political scene…”
~ Johannesburg Star, Book of the Week
“A really wonderful book. Sarif’s writing is delicate and confident and the characters are real and very believable.”
~ Maggie O’Farrell, author of After You’d Gone and My Lover’s Lover
“The characters shine with the beauty of Sarif’s deceptively skilful prose which keeps your eyes skating along the narrative in sheer enjoyment. I read this book in two long sittings, unable to put it down.”
~ Dyverse
“Sarif’s elegant and understated debut eschews emotional fireworks, and offers an unusual insight into early apartheid… a novel that lives up to its title.”
~ The Times, Play
“In the tradition of Vikram Seth, Sarif throws down a literary gauntlet that very few writers will be able to pick and return with any conviction.”
~ Pride
“Highly original… this is a stylishly written work. Sarif is near faultless…”
~ India Weekly
“If you only read one novel for the rest of the year, make it this one. Sarif is a new writer who deserves to win prizes.”
~ Waterstones
“One of the most promising of a new generation of British writers…Sarif’s debut is confident, original and jam-packed with insight”
~ The List
I Can’t Think Straight
I Can’t Think Straight
From the award winning writer of The World Unseen and Despite the Falling Snow comes a spirited tale about culture, tradition, families and an explosive love affair.
Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents. Moving between Middle Eastern high society and London’s West End, I Can’t Think Straight explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, conventions and individuality, creating a humorous and tender story of unexpected love and unusual freedoms.
Now a major motion picture from award-winning director Shamim Sarif.
REVIEWS
“…a brilliantly executed, romantic, sexy, and heart-warming page-turner… I Can’t Think Straight is a novel that all readers and all critics, regardless of sexuality, would agree is the work of an amazingly talented writer and one that is a refreshing and immensely enjoyable read that leaves you smiling. The only thing to not like about the book is that it had to end.”
~ Cherrygrrl.com
“Each character in the story is wonderfully complex and endearing…Sarif evokes an atmosphere so diverse and inviting, each page is something to be savored. Sarif’s descriptions are beautifully crafted; delicate, seductive and enthralling, they make I Can’t Think Straight a sheer joy to read from start to finish.”
~ GracetheSpot.com
REVIEWS
“…a brilliantly executed, romantic, sexy, and heart-warming page-turner… I Can’t Think Straight is a novel that all readers and all critics, regardless of sexuality, would agree is the work of an amazingly talented writer and one that is a refreshing and immensely enjoyable read that leaves you smiling. The only thing to not like about the book is that it had to end.”
~ Cherrygrrl.com
“Each character in the story is wonderfully complex and endearing…Sarif evokes an atmosphere so diverse and inviting, each page is something to be savored. Sarif’s descriptions are beautifully crafted; delicate, seductive and enthralling, they make I Can’t Think Straight a sheer joy to read from start to finish.”
~ GracetheSpot.com
