Salman Shaheen, grandson of Urdu literature pioneer Mumtaz Shirin, has made a remarkable literary debut with his novel Freebourne, which has already drawn widespread acclaim from leading authors and filmmakers. BAFTA-winning director Sarah Gavron has described the book as “impossible to put down.” Freebourne will be published on 28 October by Roundfire Books, the fiction imprint of Collective Ink, owned by Watkins Media.
Since opening for pre-orders in the United Kingdom, Freebourne has become an overnight success, debuting at #54 in Amazon’s Hot New Releases and #12 among New Thrillers, surpassing new titles by bestsellers Martina Cole and Ken Follett. The novel is now available for pre-order in Pakistan as well.
Set in a near-future English town, Freebourne is a genre-defying murder mystery with a speculative edge. It follows Dr Harry Coulson, a divorced and unemployed MindTech entrepreneur, who moves to the tranquil town of Freebourne after his life collapses. But any hope of peace is shattered when he discovers a young woman’s body in the snow upon arrival. As a stranger in a town experiencing its first murder in a century, Coulson becomes a suspect and is drawn into a sinister web of science, faith and free will.
Critics have been unanimous in their praise. Sarah Gavron said, “From the moment we step onto the cobbled streets of a future all too close to our own, we are invited to unravel the mystery of Freebourne, and it’s impossible to put down.” Booker-shortlisted author Trezza Azzopardi called it “a thinking reader’s thriller… a rich and complex story with a shocking twist.” Bestselling novelist Charles Elton described it as “compelling, propulsive and endlessly surprising,” while award-winning actor Karim Theilgaard hailed it as “a masterpiece… one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read.”
Shaheen, a British politician, journalist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is the grandson of Mumtaz Shirin and Samad Shaheen, who together published Naya Daur from Karachi. He has written for The Guardian, New Statesman and Times of India, and is known for his investigative work on corporate tax avoidance.
Reflecting on his grandmother’s influence, Shaheen said, “My grandmother sadly passed away before I was born, but her love for the written word was passed down to my father, and through him to me. I hope Freebourne honours her legacy.”
Freebourne will be released worldwide on 28 October by Roundfire Books.