Footnote Press signs 'polyphonic, assured and character-driven debut' by Tawseef Khan

Footnote Press has acquired Determination, the debut novel from author and immigration solicitor Tawseef Khan.  

Former Footnote commissioning editor Rose Green acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Matthew Turner at RCW. Editorial director Fritha Saunders will take over publication.  

“Jamila Shah is 29 and exhausted.” the synopsis says. “An immigration solicitor tasked with running the precious family law firm, Jamila is prone to being woken in the middle of the night by frantic phone calls from clients on the cusp of deportation. Working under the shadow of the government’s ’hostile environment’, she constantly prays and hopes that their ’determinations’ will result in her clients being allowed to stay. With no time for friends, family or even herself (never mind a needy partner), Jamila’s life feels hectic and out of control. Then a breakdown of sorts forces her to seek change — to pursue her own happiness while navigating the endless expectations that the world seems to have of her, and still committing herself to a career devoted to helping others.” 

Footnote Press described Determination as a “polyphonic, assured and character-driven debut”. It will publish in hardback, e-book and audiobook in June 2024. 

Khan said: “Determination is an incredibly personal book to me, one that I spent almost seven years trying to get right. It’s a look behind the culture war on immigration, yes, but it’s also about families, freedom, belonging, and one woman’s attempt to balance how much she can devote to the cause with how much she must hold back for herself. I’m so proud and excited to have found a home with Footnote, a publisher that understands how the story of migration is the story of humankind, and especially grateful for Footnote’s immediate understanding, vision and ambition to get this story to its readers.” 

Khan’s fiction has appeared in Lighthouse and Test Signal: a Northern Anthology; his non-fiction in the New York Times, the Face and Hyphen. His debut non-fiction book Muslim, Actually was published by Atlantic in 2021.