Northern Boy: A big Bollywood dream. A small-town chance.Billy Elliot meets Bend It Like Beckham in this unforgettable debut about aiming high and defying expectation the perfect uplit read this year. Joyful, defiant and dazzling, this is the story of Rafi Aziz a Northern boy dreaming of his name up in lights. It's 1981 in the suburbs of Blackburn and, as Rafis mother reminds him daily, the family moved here from Pakistan to give him the best opportunities. But Rafi longs to follow his own path. Flamboyant,

facing down chaotic Obsidian gods

no records

and a source of hope and dread for everyone else

and figure as a training ground on which young boys are taught what it means to be a man

From growing up as an adoptee in the Midwest

Base Notes: petitgrain

so long that the land has reshaped itself and old rituals and religions are creeping back into practice

A sports romance for those who keep rewatching Bend It Like Beckham and rereading Red

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Zando

gorgeous photos

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ocotillo Press

offering a poignant and inclusive back-to-school message: all should feel safe