This Way Out

Written by Tufayel Ahmed

Narrated by Rohan Rakhit

It’s time everyone knew the truth, and what better way to announce you’re getting married (and gay) than on your family WhatsApp group?

Amar can’t wait to tell everyone his wonderful news: he’s found The One, and he’s getting married. But it turns out announcing his engagement on a group chat might not have been the best way to let his strict Muslim Bangladeshi family know that his happy-ever-after partner is a man—and a white man at that.

Amar expected a reaction from his four siblings, but his bombshell sends shockwaves throughout the community and begins to fracture their family unit, already fragile from the death of their mother. Suddenly Amar is questioning everything he once believed in: his faith, his culture, his family, his mother’s love—and even his relationship with Joshua. Amar was sure he knew what love meant, but was he just plain wrong?

He’s never thought of his relationship with Joshua as a love story—they just fit together, like two halves of a whole. But if they can reconcile their differences with Amar’s culture, could there be hope for his relationship with his family too? And could this whole disaster turn into a love story after all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781713650966

Tufayel Ahmed

Tufayel Ahmed is a journalist and lecturer who proudly hails from the streets of Tower Hamlets, East London. He has written for Newsweek, Vice, CNN, the Independent and more. This is his first novel. To find out more, visit his website, tufayel.co, or find him on Twitter @tufayel and on Instagram @tufayelahmed.

Reviews for This Way Out

[Kudzaishe Katsande · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn’t like the book as much. I like some of the themes that the author was trying to address - the racism, cultural differences, etc, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy the writing style (which is a personal preference) or Amar’s character. For most of the book he just comes off as annoying, insufferable, and one big baby. There are some parts that didn’t make sense to me like the fact that Amar thought he was the only gay Muslim in London, like what? At the beginning of the book, the author also makes it seem like Amar isn’t all that devoted to his religion, and yet for most of the book after that, his religion suddenly becomes this big deal and almost a very central theme in the book. That came off as a little contradictory to me. Joshua definitely deserves better, and I’m not as enthusiastic that he went back to Amar.

Overall, It was ok. I don’t think I would recommend it to a friend though.