Nura and the Immortal Palace

WINNER OF THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE (YOUNGER)

A magical adventure rooted in Muslim culture and tradition, Nura and the Immortal Palace follows a young girl’s journey from modern-day Pakistan into the world of the jinn.

Nura has worked all her life in the mica mines, earning just enough to keep her family afloat – and enjoy the odd delicious gulab jamun from the market. Some day she’s going to find the Demon’s Tongue, a legendary treasure buried deep in the mines, and her family will never have to worry about money again.

But when a terrible accident buries her best friend below ground, Nura goes in search of him and passes over into the magical and terrible world of the jinn. Across a pink sea and under a purple sky, she finds her way to a palace, where great riches and a whole new life are on offer.

But it’s not long before Nura discovers this world to be as unfair as the real one, and that trickster jinns will always live up to their reputation…

Nura and the Immortal Palace is not a typical middle-grade novel. What starts off as a seemingly simple story about a young, uneducated Pakistani girl working in the mica mines to support her family quickly morphs into a magical adventure story. Khan explores Islamic traditions and themes of struggle, courage, and friendship in creative and insightful ways. Reading Time
It was a book that I lost myself in as I explored the Immortal Palace with Nura, and a world that I hoped Nura and Faisal could escape, find their way home, and find a way to change their lives. I wanted them to succeed. I fell in love with so many aspects of this book for so many different reasons. It’s powerful, evocative, and gives brilliant representation for Pakistan. I loved that it had a resolution that made sense for the characters and gives readers hope for the future of the characters as well. It is sure to find readers all around the world, and I hope they all get as much out of it as I did. -- Ashleigh Meikle The Book Muse
a thought-provoking story, set in a fictional Pakistani town of Meerabagh. With a sense of truth and desolation of child labour, dangerous mining and families struggling to survive, this novel is layered with many confronting quandaries that will challenge most reader. Creatively woven with Muslim culture and traditions, along with the mysterious mythical world of jinn, this story is sure to keep you captivated until the very end. Khan has written a story layered with life inequalities and society’s imbalances, while cleverly entwined within the magical world of fantasy. Join Nura on an intriguing adventure, and appreciate how she encapsulates strength and determination, while discovering some of life's truths. Read Plus

I simply loved reading this story, I was swept away by the atmosphere of the great hotel and the evocative mystery
of a world that hides more than it shows.

M.T. Khan is a SFF writer from Pakistan, now living in Canada. She focuses on stories close to her heart, evoking cultural and societal conversations through her works. When she's not writing, M.T. Khan has her nose deep in physics textbooks or glued to her CAD computer as she majors in Mechanical Engineering.

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