Belgrave Road

by Manish Chauhan

This is a love story of two people working side by side but living worlds apart.
Mira's days are filled with duty and light on freedom. In a new country, living with a husband she barely knows - and who she fears she'll never love - Mira is desperate to discover all that her new life in England might offer.



And then there's Tahliil. The quiet, beautiful man she sees at work each day. With a depth in his eyes and a face full of questions. The first person in this new world who listens to Mira's hopes for who she yearns to become.



But beyond their lunchtime encounters, the pair couldn't lead more different the duties that bind them, the homes they are trying to build threaten to subsume them. As Mira and Tahliil navigate the deep and turbulent waters of their new worlds can they find a way to be together, and will finding each other set them free?

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, British Literature, Love, Adult Fiction, Family

357 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 13, 2026

Reviews

[Nae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you @williammorrowbooks for my advanced copy and @harperaudio for the audiobook, Mascuud Dahir and Ajayta Rai did a great job bringing Mira and Tahlill's pangs and desires to life.
Belgrave Road was a good book that pulled me in from the beginning. Mira is from India who moves to England to live with her husband and his family through an arranged marriage but things between her and her husband are very complicated, the love just isn't there. Tahliil is seeking asylum from his home country, Somalia, is now in England attempting to forge a new life in very different environment. There's forbidden romance within this story, but what really stayed with me was how deeply it explored immigration, belonging, and the weight of cultural expectations. It's tender, layered, and far more than just a love story.
I think I'd give this a 3.5 stars mainly because of the ending, I wanted more closure with how it all ended for these people.

[Cass Chloupek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Everything about it was captivating. I usually dislike romance books because they oftentimes wind up being cheesy and cliche but this managed to avoid that fate. My only critique would be the ending. Nothing wrong with the artisitc choice to end it that way but I feel like it neded something more definied. But I understand that that was intentional to leave the reader with the same uncertainty the characters felt and that millions of people in similar circumstances feel. I just wanted something more solid. Nice book, good writing.

[Aoife Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belgrave Road is an accomplished, thought-provoking debut novel that drew me in early and didn't let me go. I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading it.

I've seen a couple of different covers for this novel, one of which says "a love story" on the cover. Yes there is a love story in here, but I probably found that to be the least compelling aspect of this novel. Really, this is a novel about two people from very different backgrounds - Mira from India and Tahliil from Somalia - both of whom end up living in Leicester, England, attempting to forge a new life for themselves in very difficult circumstances.

Mira lives with her husband Rajiv and his parents, after she enters into an arranged marriage and moves to Leicester to be with her new husband. Rajiv is in love with someone else however, and Mira's mother in law lives a life in denial of all that is wrong under her family's roof.

Tahliil is a Somali asylum seeker, who made a traumatic and dangerous journey by boat from Libya to Europe with his sister, to be reunited with their mother in Leicester.

Mira and Tahliil meet at work and form an almost instant connection which grows stronger over time. In alternating sections told from the perspective of each of them, we get to know them, their hopes and fears, their innermost thoughts and how their formative journeys have brought them to this moment. The prose is spare and not in any way embellished, but this isn't a straightforward read - the crispness of the words chosen by the author hides a depth of emotion, particularly as the story reaches its climax.

I tend to find myself drawn to books like this - books that reminds the reader we are all human, with complex emotions and vulnerabilities, and if we live happy, settled, comfortable lives, it is mostly by accident of birth that we are afforded such luck. Profound, moving and ultimately sad, this is one debut I won't forget in a hurry. Recommend. 4-4.5/5 stars

*Many thanks to the author, publisher Faber Books and Netgalley for the advance review e-copy in exchange for an honest review. Belgrave Road was published on 29 January 2026.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual kind of read, but one that I very much enjoyed. Though having it set in a place I know certainly helped. The characters are likeable and you definitely root for them as they go about their everyday lives and dream of a happier future. A promising debut and ripe, I’d say, for a BBC adaptation.

[Asha KRISHNA · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been waiting to read this book ever since it was announced. It is a well written, compelling love story set in an area that I am beginning to call my own.

I loved how the story is set on roads that I am familiar with, houses that I have seen and wondered what their stories were. It felt personal and therefore perhaps I was expecting more.

The premise is quite an ambitious one and pulling it off is not an easy feat but it has been done really well. Yet, there were moments when I felt the disconnect, some scenes felt strung along, as if catering to a certain perception of an Asian novel.

I finished the book yesterday and since then, I have been marvelling at how the writer has captured the communal essence, social history of the area while cleverly placing individual characters at the forefront. I loved the characters, Mira and Tahlil and how their individual circumstances and desires, shapes up their actions and their lives. As I read along, invested in the characters and their lives, I wondered how it was going to end and when it did, it took me by surprise. Superb!

Overall, I loved Belgrave Road. Beautifully told story. I am still thinking about it.

[Books By Your Bedside · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

This was another book I had pre-ordered but sadly had to cancel due to money issues, and if truth be told, I wasn't completely sure what it was about, but it intrigued me - and I am a huge sucker for a beautiful or interesting cover.

I fell for Mira. She's been wed to essentially a stranger, forced to move thousands of miles to a new country where she is not fluent in the language, she has no family there, no job. I won't even pretend to say I know what an arranged marriage is like, but Manish, he's written it in such a way that feels honest and authentic, without sensationalising it, but without pretending it's all sunshine and roses.

I didn't like to Mira's new husband Rajiv. I know he was going through similar things, marrying a stranger and whatnot, but he was at least still in his own country with his family and friends, and I felt he was selfish, only thinking about himself.

I also didn't like the second storyline between Mira and Tahliil. It felt very forced and I'd have preferred just to read about Mira's new life in England, rather than have this traditional love triangle going on.

This is what I would refer to as "literary fiction" and I generally only read that genre when it's part of an award shortlist or something. I have read some good ones but I am more a fan of thrillers, fantasy, romance books, and so I did wonder if this would be too "literary" for me. If I would spend more time thinking about its importance than actually enjoying the story for what it was. But I found it quite friendly to read.

I loved the cultural differences between the Indian characters and the English, and then the Somali, that was interesting. I don't know Manesh's background or heritage and it's not my place to ask, but it'll be interesting to know what his experience of the topics raised are, as I'm sure that would help give it more depth. I have some Indian friends and so have a rough idea of culture but the Somali culture was completely new to me and so whilst I didn't overly enjoy that side of the story, it was interesting.

It is a romance, yes, in the sense that there is a new marriage and romantic undertones. But for me this was more of a look at culture differences, newness, finding yourself and a sense of belonging - the romantic elements were almost in the background.

It's not an overly uplifting book. Yes there are hopeful parts but overall it is rather heavy and serious.

The ending wasn't bad but it was open ended, which generally I don't mind but in this circumstance I'd have liked it finished. It feels in this case that Manish couldn't think of an ending so just left it. I'd have liked to have known what happened.

It is an interesting story but I think the pacing is wrong. This is going to sound bad but I don't mean it like that, but nothing really happens. There's no big twist or thrill or big action piece, it just goes on its merry way through the story and it's well written. But because it isn't building up to that big moment, it often feels a bit rigid and stuck and mundane and therefore it does have a tendence to feel a bit slow.

I believe this is his debut and, whilst not perfect, it was still an enjoyable book to read and a very promising debut. I could definitely see it being made into a TV series.

[Victoria Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the subtitle of this book is “A Love Story”, there is so much more to this story than that and it certainly doesn’t follow a conventional romance. This story follows our two main characters, Mira and Tahliil, both immigrants to Britain who are trying to build a better life for themselves. Mira comes from India following her arranged marriage and struggles to find her place in this new strange world, while also exploring what it might mean for her to pursue something she truly wants. Tahliil comes from Somalia, carrying very heavy trauma, and is working hard to establish himself in this new place, support his family, and again, dare to consider what he really wants moving forward. Mira and Tahliil’s stories intersect well into the novel and their love threatens to upend everything they have and have built.

The alternating chapter perspectives, between our two main characters, allows our author to fully flesh their stories out and helps us know them as individuals before they first come together. I liked this structure and felt that it helped propel the story forward. Although the novel has enough plot points to propel it forward, at a reasonable pace, there are quite a few interior moments for these characters; I think the author did a great job at using these opportunities to shed light on the challenges, hardships, and traumas that immigrants face every day. She didn’t shy away from difficult topics and there were parts of this story that were very sad and heartbreaking. However, there were also uplifting, hopeful moments and had you rooting for the characters until the very end. The story does have a somewhat unresolved ending but, given the reality and nature of the situation at hand, it felt appropriate to me. This story was very well written and enjoyable to read, it was accessible and interesting from the start.

I would certainly recommend this book to literary fiction fans and contemporary fiction fans!

Thanks to NetGalley and Williams Morrow for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review.

[Dana K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to William Morrow for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.

I generally don’t love a story about adultery. But in this case, Mira is arriving in England in an arranged marriage where it is clear to her early she and her husband are on two different pages. We get to know her and the complexities of her new family before she meets Tahliil, a young Somalian man who is awaiting a decision on asylum with his family. Their love story was really about kindness and recognition of the immigrant’s struggle. The balance of duty and expectations with hope and dreams. There is a lot of pain here but also a lot of hope. That said, the ending was too open for my taste. I want a clearer ending than what was on offer here.

[Candy I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet, deft, lovely and heavy.

[Trina Loomis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. It gives such a good perspective on what it means to immigrate and how you can be both inside and outside of your own culture. Now all I need is a follow up to know what happened to Mira and Tahliil.

[Bukola Akinyemi · Rating 3 out of 5]

What begins as an immigration and asylum seeker story soon unfolds into a forbidden love story.

For those seeking refuge or a place to call home, there is hardly room for anything beyond survival, becoming a version of oneself that fits, that blends, that belongs rather than stands out. But love, indifferent to circumstance, has other plans.

This is the story of Mira, a young Indian woman who has just moved to Leicester to join her husband and Tahliil who has moved from Mogadishu.

This is more than a love story, it is a story about resilience, identity, independence, family and cultural expectations, loneliness and friendship.

I had a wonderful time reading this book.

[Lisa Robison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A love story that took a turn in a different direction. It is about arranged marriages which can be a struggle itself. I found this book to be an interesting read.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I was in high school, our assigned reading for English class (because I guess they realised they could never make us read the classics) was a novella about a second gen British-Pakistani girl who has to navigate growing up in two cultures at once; you know the type, classic ESL suitable, tame YA fare that was supposed give us an insight into British multiculturalism.
This book is exactly like that. Slightly more adult themed, but barely.

Mira, a young Indian woman, goes to the UK for an arranged marriage and moves in with a man she doesn’t know and who doesn’t love her (and vice versa), plus his parents. At some point she starts working at a shop and there meets a Somali refugee, Tahliil, and falls in love with him.

First off, if you’re expecting some deep feelings and a forbidden love story, there isn’t much of any.
The narrative could’ve been interesting but was let down by poor plotting and characterisations.
The two POV characters’ feelings remain opaque throughout due to over-reliance on telling over showing and I never got the sense the story had real stakes.
To give you a sense of what I mean re feelings remaining opaque through bad writing - halfway through the book or so, Mira for the first time in the entire book thinks back to having wanted to marry someone else while she’s having an argument with her husband. Mind you, we’ve spent 200 pages with her as the POV character while she does nothing apart from sit at home and adjust to her new life, which you think would provide ample opportunity to ponder what she left behind for this arranged marriage.
And then the writing quality makes it itself known: she asks herself what her life would’ve been like if she’d married “that young man” - this is a direct quote, we’re supposedly hearing her thoughts here. Who tf thinks to themselves this way about supposedly their first love? We never even learn “that young man’s” name! This was the author talking, not the POV character. I know it’s a debut, but it’s still pretty bad.

The writing style is extremely bare in general, no literary flourish or subtext at all and at times downright poor - one example was something like, “For Rupal’s 30th birthday, Rupal threw a party”, which… I mean, what are editors even for these days.

This smacks heavily of commercial fiction masquerading as something deeper than it is due to the subject matter. There are much better reads about the first gen immigrant experience or about forbidden cross-cultural love stories out there.

[Stefani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about love, and discovering love, and understanding how love feels and what you want from a relationship, but I’m not sure I would say it’s a love story.

Mira is in an arranged marriage and moves to England to live with her new husband and her in laws. It’s revealed overtime that her husband loved another woman and had been with her on/off for 13 years, and still talks to her. This creates so much distance and separation between them, but her husband feels obligated to make the marriage work to please his parents, his obligations heavy to help pay off all his father’s debts.

Mira becomes extremely independent, and while at her new job, meets Tahliil, an immigrant from Somalia who had arrived to England with his sister claiming asylum. They with their month and he supports them both.

All this to say, while all these heavy, hard things are happening to our main characters, they fall in love and start having an affair, Tahliil hoping he will get to continue to stay in the country while Mira stays married to her husband so she won’t be sent back to India.

You get to the end of the book wondering how this is ever going to work out, you’re sort of wrapped up with these two characters and their dreams of the future, and then of course at 90% something devastating happens and there’s no time to recover from it and they can’t recover from it and the ending felt so rushed and unfinished and then it’s just OVER. Like just pull your heart out and stomp on it.

Anyway, this is a story about love, but it didn’t feel like a love story. The ending tries to give you hope but you’re just sad.

Thank you @williammorrowbooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

[Amy Capewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mira has made the long journey from India to live with her new husband in Leicester. Mira knows little about her husband and in-laws and even less about this new city.

Tahliil is suppressing fear and trauma from his own violent journey from Somalia to England.

A chance crossing of paths sparks a new journey for both Mira and Tahliil.

Belgrave Road is an exploration of relationships, prejudice, expectations and communities - two people living different lives but with so much in common.

From a personal standpoint - the characters are likeable (or dis-likeable when they're meant to be - Sasra I'm looking squarely at you here) and there's a real sense of walking alongside them as their stories unfold. I did, however, want a little more substance, more depth to the story to get truly inside the characters' heads.

That said, Belgrave Road will make an excellent book for reading groups - raising multiple issues that will prompt an absolute wealth of conversations. With topics of arranged marriage, the asylum process, racial tensions within communities and the morality of affairs and divorce don't expect a quiet book club meeting when discussing Belgrave Road.

There is a somewhat open-ended conclusion which will doubtless also generate great discussions amongst readers around what will happen next?

Themes include arranged marriage, domestic abuse, asylum, assault, racial tensions within communities, marital affairs.

[Book Addict Mands · Rating 3 out of 5]

This year I have joined The Tandem Collectives New Year, New Author campaign aiming to bring new and different authors to readers

Our first read was Belgrave Road by Manish Chauhan. I’ll be honest and say this was wasn’t a book I wouldn’t have picked up usually however I’m glad I did as I enjoyed it and it was great to read something different to what I’m used to. This is why this campaign is so good.

The book is thoughtful, emotional and draws you in and stays with you. The writing is controlled and perceptive, with a strong sense of atmosphere and emotional depth. I found myself really invested in the characters and their individual journeys and struggles.

This book isn’t for the faint hearted, there are complex and tough subjects discussed at length. I did struggle at points and need to come away from the depth of the story before continuing.

The ending was very open ended and I would have like more of a conclusion to the story but other than that it was an enjoyable read

#newyearnewauthornewme

[Uzoamaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written story about two people from different culture, religion and status falling in love at work but it's forbidden since Mira is married to Rajiv and Tahliil is trying to sort out his status. I was intrigued by the way the female characters were portrayed especially by a male author. It was the men instead that didn't come out in a good light. I enjoyed reading the different pov from Mira and Tahliil and although I was not rooting for their 'love' I loved how the story ended.

[Lauren]

I thought this was a lovely tender story of a Somali man and Indian woman who meet after emigrating to England and fall in love. There's a great sense of place and a real understanding of the emotional baggage that immigrants bring and the challenges they face. My biggest quibble is the ending which came out of nowhere and was so heavy handed. I think there were other ways to resolve the story. It's Chauhan's first novel and I do think he's a writer to watch.

[Jennifer B · Rating 3 out of 5]

convincing portrayal of the immigrant experience, both legal and illegal. No resolution of the issues but a tidy ending would have been too convenient.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a hunch this one was going to make me cry...and it definitely was sad. Lovely, but melancholy.

[naomi ✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

poignant

[Susanna Liang · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a depressing story about 2 immigrants who start an affair and there’s no resolution or happily ever after

[Liv Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

My heart!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple story about adapting to living in a new country, and love. Both told so beautifully. A superb debut novel.

[Sara]

At ston time there little flower grow to be kissed
fear nt to be diserve the life
feel nair of duty as heaive as any cary
lonly to make her heart beat another life
strugle to belgrave
alone betwen ston heart face wind beat
bird sing to me and pray
love nt make my prisnt complicated .make it clear
i will breath another free day
without duty
without fear
for free and learn
for love and gain
at strang land my heart ring another bill

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful love story.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book!
I did not feel as this was a first novel. It was easy to read, nicely structured, with good understanding of the feeling of being an immigrant.
I was beautifully surprised of the description of Mira feelings and her growth.
Please give us at least a last bonus chapter.

[Jenna Gotlieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly delightful read 😭😭 unfortunately fuelled my UK immigration stress

[mane cg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belgrave Road is marketed as a love story, and it definitely is… but not in the cute, romantic way people might expect. It’s more of a messy, complicated kind of love story mixed with culture, religion, identity, and the reality of immigration.

One of my favorite things about this book was how much it focused on Indian culture, and how it explored LGBTQ relationships within that world. It didn’t feel like it was added for “representation points,” it felt like a real part of the story. I also loved how it shows cultural differences in a way that makes you genuinely curious instead of just giving surface-level details.

Mira’s story honestly made me sad at times. When she moved to London with Rajib, you could tell she was so hopeful, like she truly thought she was stepping into a better life and a loving family. And then reality hits, and it’s nothing like what she imagined. But I really liked seeing how much she grows, because by the end she’s not the same person she was when she first arrived.

Rajib was a complicated character for me. I didn’t always like him, but I also didn’t fully hate him either. Even though he didn’t love Mira, he still encouraged her to do things for herself, and I felt like he was also trapped by his own culture and religion in a way that made me feel bad for him.

And Tahlil… he was just a good man. You could see how much he cared for Mira, but also how hard it was for him to deal with what his culture expects from him.

I know the ending will annoy some people, but I actually liked it. It didn’t feel wrapped up in a perfect bow, but it felt realistic, and it lets you decide what you think happens next.

Overall, I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was emotional, thought-provoking, and it made me think about immigration and culture in a way I honestly don’t see enough in fiction.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was always going to read this book, when it was brought to my attention, for no less reason than that I used to live in the Leicester area, and spent more than a few occasions shopping in the Belgrave Road, and I’m glad that I did so.

Mira arrives in the UK from India, her first-ever time on a plane, to live with the husband she married six months ago and his parents; an arranged marriage, despite what she tells the immigration officer at the airport, and one about which she’s understandably nervous. She’s also optimistic, of learning about British culture and making a place for herself; yet she finds herself inserted into an Indian culture not necessarily better than the one she left. A much smaller house, terraced, with a tiny paved area for a garden—no big veranda, no almond trees as at her childhood home in India—and a small bedroom adjoining that of her parents-in-law, who she’s afraid will hear the sounds of her conjugal relations with husband Rajiv. As to him, she hopes love will come; but as time goes on and secrets begin to emerge that begins to look less and less likely.

Tahliil, on the other hand, arrived with his sister Sumaya after a harrowing journey from Somalia which culminated in a small boat across the Channel. They’ve left the war-torn mess which is their homeland to come to live with their mother—who came over many years ago, leaving her children with their father and his second wife—in a Somali community in the Belgrave Road area. Tahliil was studying to be an engineer, but now he’s happy to take work as a carer for an ageing English man as well as working at a couple of shops on a part-time basis. It’s illegal for him to work, as is his presence in the country, but he’s not the sort to sit around doing nothing, and getting help with his asylum application is costly.

These are the two main characters in Manish Chauhan’s debut novel, the narrative alternating between their lives—which touch and engage when they end up working in adjoining shops, Tahliil making deliveries from the cash and carry to the sweet mart next door. Their relationship grows despite every circumstance being against it, beginning with the fact that the Indian and Somali communities aren’t keen on each other—the latter resenting the former having ‘got there first’ and ‘looking down on’ the later-arrivals from Africa. It’s not a problem for this unlikely pair, however. Mira works hard at a job she doesn’t want, determined to have her own business one day, taking English classes to help, and becoming more certain as time passes that her future doesn’t lie with Rajiv; although she’s obliged to spend five years married to him under the terms of her visa. Tahliil takes photographs in his spare time, hoping to make something of that at some point in the future, if only he can stay where he is and get over the guilt with which he’s wracked.

There’s so much else going on, so much to be overcome, not the least of which is tradition. Mira’s father-in-law came over to please his parents, but he doesn’t even seem to like it in the UK, and Mira married Rajiv and came for the same reason—although she had enough good reasons to have stayed where she was. Rajiv only agreed to find a bride in India because his parents disapproved of the one he’d found for himself, and he couldn’t find a British-Indian girl to his taste. There are tensions between his parents, which he’s avoiding facing, and to Mira they don’t seem any happier for being in the UK. There are a few ethnic British characters, Mr Stevens—for whom Tahliil provides homecare—as the foremost, and with a more positive attitude to his Somali carer than his daughter Marie, who’s more inclined towards racial stereotyping.

Along with racism from all sides there’s homophobia, over Rajiv’s lesbian cousin’s relationship with the white Chantelle; scammers taking advantage of immigrants desperate to claim asylum; and the unhappiness of arranged marriages in general. It’s clear that Mira and Rajiv aren’t destined to remain together—and it’s telling that the best bond she makes within her new family is with her mother-in-law. The latter’s eventual reaction to her husband taking out his frustrations on her is a damning indictment, with Mira’s opposition to her parents trying to marry-off her younger sister is another indication of how wrong this is—but pressure to conform to community is difficult to resist.

There’s an awful lot of other issues which hover unspoken in the background, of which I was aware and which made me fear for Mira and Tahliil as they grew closer to each other and made plans. Suffice to say that I cried at the end; whether they were tears of happiness or sorrow I won’t say, but strongly recommend that you read and discover for yourself.