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Tanaz Bhathena

Photo by Nettie Photography

Tanaz Bhathena was born in Mumbai, India, and raised in Saudi Arabia and Toronto, Canada. Bhathena lives in Mississauga, Ontario.

Fiction (Young adult)

The Beauty of the Moment

New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, 2019.
Toronto: Penguin Teen, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers, 2019.

Publisher’s Synopsis (FSG website)

Susan is the new girl—she’s sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents’ expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy—he started raising hell at age fifteen, after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since.
Susan’s parents are on the verge of divorce. Malcolm’s dad is a known adulterer.

Susan hasn’t told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn’t know what he wants—until he meets her.

Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are.

Fiction (Young adult)

A Girl Like That

New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018.
PS8603 .H3884 G57 2018

Publisher’s Snyopis (FSG from its website)

Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school. You don’t want to get involved with a girl like that, they say. So how is it that eighteen-year-old Porus Dumasia has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of a highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive on the scene, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is questioned. And as her story is pieced together, told through multiple perspectives, it becomes clear that she was far more than just a girl like that.

This beautifully written debut novel from Tanaz Bhathena reveals a rich and wonderful new world to readers; tackles complicated issues of race, identity, class, and religion; and paints a portrait of teenage ambition, angst, and alienation that feels both inventive and universal.

Awards and Honours

2018 The Globe 100 (Globe and Mail, 1 Dec. 2018)
2019 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award (Finalist)

Fiction (Young adult)

Hunted by the Sky

Toronto: Penguin Teen, 2020.
Series: The Wrath of Ambar

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)

Ma misses the sun, warmth and colors of their faraway homeland, but her daughter sees magic in everything — the clouds in the winter sky, the “firework” display when she throws an armful of snow into the air, making snow angels, tasting snowflakes. And in the end, her joy is contagious. Home is where family is, after all.

Gul has spent her life running. She has a star-shaped birthmark on her arm, and in the kingdom of Ambar, girls with such birthmarks have been disappearing for years. Gul’s mark is what caused her parents’ murder at the hand of King Lohar’s ruthless soldiers and forced her into hiding to protect her own life. So when a group of rebel women called the Sisters of the Golden Lotus rescue her, take her in, and train her in warrior magic, Gul wants only one thing: revenge.


Cavas lives in the tenements, and he’s just about ready to sign his life over to the king’s army. His father is terminally ill, and Cavas will do anything to save him. But sparks fly when he meets a mysterious girl—Gul—in the capital’s bazaar, and as the chemistry between them undeniably grows, he becomes entangled in a mission of vengeance—and discovers a magic he never expected to find.


Dangerous circumstances have brought Gul and Cavas together at the king’s domain in Ambar Fort . . . a world with secrets deadlier than their own. Exploring identity, class struggles, and high-stakes romance, Hunted by the Sky is a gripping adventure set in a world inspired by medieval India.

Awards and Honours

2021 White Pine Award (Winner)

Fiction (Young adult)

Of Light and Shadow

Penguin Teen Canada, 2023.

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)

A standalone novel of magic, mayhem, love, and betrayal set in the Wrath of Ambar universe, this is the story of a bandit and a prince who change each other in unexpected ways.

Set in a magical world inspired by the badlands of 17th century India, this standalone epic fantasy novel by Tanaz Bhathena is packed with political tensions, dangerous schemes, and swoon-worthy romance that asks the age old question: can love conquer all?

Fiction (Young adult)

Rising Like a Storm

Toronto: Penguin Teen, 2021.
Series: The Wrath of Ambar
PS8603.H385 R57 2021

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)

In the concluding installment to the Wrath of Ambar duology from masterful author Tanaz Bhathena, Gul and Cavas must unite their magical forces — and hold onto their growing romance — to save their kingdom from tyranny.

With King Lohar dead and a usurper queen in power, Gul and Cavas face a new tyrannical government that is bent on killing them both. Their roles in King Lohar’s death have not gone unnoticed, and the new queen is out for blood. What she doesn’t know is that Gul and Cavas have a connection that runs deeper than romance, and together, they just might have the strength and magic to end her for good.

Then a grave mistake ends with Cavas taken prisoner by the government. Gul must train an army of warriors alone. With alliances shifting and the thirst for vengeance growing, the fate of Ambar seems ever more uncertain. It will take every ounce of strength, love, and sacrifice for Gul and Cavas to reach their final goal — and build a more just world than they’ve ever known.

Links

Tanaz Bhathena personal website

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group

Publisher Penguin Random House Canada