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It Begins at the End: Looking back is not an option
Rebellious eighteen-year-old Anya expected consequences when her strict Pakistani-Muslim parents uncovered her secret relationship with her boyfriend. But she didn’t expect them to remove her from her hometown of London and away from her best friend, Kamila – or for them to ship her off to Lahore, in Pakistan, arranging her marriage to a man fifteen years her elder.
Imran is everything Anya is callous, calculating, cruel. However, Anya knows her own parents found love and built a family after their arranged marriage, so with gumption, she throws herself into her new home with Imran’s family. But as Anya grows up in a place she struggles to call home, she realises that marriage comes with saying goodbye to the chance to pursue her talent for fashion design, watching friends build fulfilling lives of their own, and learning to accept that her husband is obsessed with his brother’s wife.
As Imran’s abusive behaviour becomes increasingly apparent, Anya soon finds herself trapped in a marriage that pushes her to her greatest limits. Over the subsequent decade, a once-naïve girl becomes a fierce mother-of-three. And while Anya endures more than she could ever imagine, enough is enough. Powered by love, heartache, and commendable hope, she must do whatever it takes to escape—or risk her children suffering a similar fate.
Imran is everything Anya is callous, calculating, cruel. However, Anya knows her own parents found love and built a family after their arranged marriage, so with gumption, she throws herself into her new home with Imran’s family. But as Anya grows up in a place she struggles to call home, she realises that marriage comes with saying goodbye to the chance to pursue her talent for fashion design, watching friends build fulfilling lives of their own, and learning to accept that her husband is obsessed with his brother’s wife.
As Imran’s abusive behaviour becomes increasingly apparent, Anya soon finds herself trapped in a marriage that pushes her to her greatest limits. Over the subsequent decade, a once-naïve girl becomes a fierce mother-of-three. And while Anya endures more than she could ever imagine, enough is enough. Powered by love, heartache, and commendable hope, she must do whatever it takes to escape—or risk her children suffering a similar fate.
455 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 29, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 26, 2026
Wow, as a father of three of my own, I couldn’t put this book down! It’s puts into perspective the choices I’ve made to be there for my wife and children.
February 22, 2023
It was such a joy to follow Anya’s story and growth the book. She’s a character you can really root for, and this book is deserving of a well done for Aaliyah’s debut novel!!!
June 16, 2023
It was AMAZING. The amount of emotions i felt while reading this and crying for Anya. And the joy i felt for her at the end. Once i started reading i could not put it down. I don’t have anymore words expect i loved this book so much. PERFECT.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews