Whole Story Audio Books

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Price: £19.99

The hilarious memoir of a Muslim boy born in Pakistan, who moves to London aged one and grows up torn between his Islamic identity and his desire to embrace the West.

The narrator recalls his childhood in a series of snapshots: from coming second in a Bonnie Baby competition to attending the local grammar school and the shock of experiencing racism in its many forms. His response is to dedicate himself to becoming the quintessential English gentleman: tie perfectly knotted, shirt pristinely ironed and hair neatly combed. But like most boys, he has a parallel obsession with cars and girls.

Reviews and Press Quotes

John Pienaar, BBC

“Very funny.”

Sue Cook

“Beguilling and insightful.”

Customer Reviews

Rachel Clay, UK

4 out of 5

“Not 5 out of 5 because the childhood and adolescence was much more interesting than the adult life when there was just too much angst and self-searching etc. The school days with Ahamad straddled between Moslem ideals and Western reality was vivid and had a quiet wit. He loses a mark for telling us - for heaven's sake - what he packed in his suitcase when he went for his first interview!”

Sarah Franklin, London

5 out of 5

“This was so emotional and engaging the whole way through -- told with real passion and delightful dead pan humour that works wonderfully. The honesty is astonishing.

Thoroughly entertaining!

(Rachel: It's obvious he described packing his case for his selection board interview for a reason, allowing the reader/listener to really get inside his mind. I thought it was funny.)”

James Moore, Surrey

5 out of 5

“A friend recommended this book with absurd enthusiasm. I chose to buy it as an audiobook, loaded it on my iPod and listened to it -- virtually non-stop -- on a flight from London to Singapore. Never has that flight (which I do regularly) passed so quickly.

This is an extraordinary journey, told with gut-wrenching brutal honesty and side-splitting humour. I squirmed whenever I recognised myself, my own thoughts, feelings, anxieties and confusions of growing up. The author/narrator SHOULD have been an actor (he said he wanted to be one when he was a child.) The delivery is so entertaining.

I'm confused. WHY haven't I heard about this book everywhere?”

Norsca, Brisbane Qld Australia

5 out of 5

“I think the story was totally engrossing. I read it aloud to my partner on a road trip and he often switched off the radio and reminded me to read the book. Even though I usually can't read without feeling motion sick when I am a passenger in a car, I found that I could read 'Unimagined' for more than half an hour at a stretch. Where can I buy the sequel, 'More Unimagined'? I've inquired at my library and a local bookshop but they didn't have it and couldn't find it on their systems.”

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Content Advisory

(What's this?)

• Violence: Mild
• Sex: Mild
• Language: Mild

This recording is unabridged. Typically abridged audiobooks are not more than 60% of the author's work and as low as 30% with characters and plotlines removed.