The First Jasmines
A story of silence and survival.
Shortlisted for the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026.
Also available in the following bundles:
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‘This novel explodes with energy, urgency and acute observational insight … Begum’s is an entirely fresh literary voice.’ — Marina Benjamin, The Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026
East Pakistan, 1971. On their way to visit their mother, two sisters, Lucky and Jamila, are captured by Pakistani soldiers and thrown into a world of horror.
Locked in a room in an unknown village-turned-camp by the river, the women look through a lone barred window onto white jasmines blooming day and night. Meanwhile, around the camp, deadly guerrilla fighters from the Bengali Mukti Bahini gather to take back territory from the Pakistan Army.
As Bangladesh crowns painfully into the world, Lucky and Jamila must choose between heartbreak and secrecy to return from an unspoken violence.
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‘This novel explodes with energy, urgency and acute observational insight … Begum’s is an entirely fresh literary voice.’ — Marina Benjamin, The Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026
‘A fiercely lyrical work … Begum shows great prowess in dealing with the horrors of sexual violence and imprisonment in a poetic, deeply human voice. Vividly written, with unforgettable characters, spirit burns bright through these pages.’ — Susanna Crossman, The Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026
‘A coruscating novel with a savagely visual voice … Blisteringly told, utterly real, and laudably unflinching … this is a bold and important publication.’ — Stu Hennigan, The Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026
‘Gives voice to a long-silenced period of Bangladeshi history.’ — The Skinny
‘Deeply accomplished … a stark and timely reminder of how fiction can be a sociopolitical tool to humanise, but not sanitise, history.’ — Thawra
‘A haunting, lyrical debut, as tender as it is brutal … Saima Begum takes the reader into the darkest depths of human nature and leads them back towards the faintest crack of light and hope. A brave, beautifully written novel.’ — Shahnaz Ahsan, author of The Jackfruit Chronicles and Hashim & Family
‘Saima Begum’s The First Jasmines is a brave and powerful novel about unspeakable wartime horrors. If the story does not break your heart, her prose will.’ — Sorayya Khan, author of We Take Our Cities With Us, City of Spies, Five Queen’s Road and Noor
‘A tender and compassionate tale of love and family, of sisterhood and solidarity, of dreams and survival and all the ways in which they shift shapes in the face of pain and brutality. Heartbreaking and powerful. A wonderful read.’ — Silmy Abdullah, author of Home of the Floating Lily
‘Lyrical and stunning in its prose, The First Jasmines gently yet powerfully leads us from the macro narratives of war and wartime sexual violence into its intimate terrain—relational fractures, quiet survival, and the lasting scars of the violence of 1971—making it a must-read.’ — Anam Zakaria, author of 1971: A People’s History from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India
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The Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026 Shortlist — Republic of Consciousness Foundation
The Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize 2026 Longlist — Republic of Consciousness Foundation
The First Jasmines by Saima Begum — Housmans Bookshop podcast
Best books of 2025: from our own stable — Financial Times
Saima Begum on the stories we inherit, trauma & memory — The Diverse Bookshelf podcast
Saima Begum on Writing Historical Fiction and Independent Publishers for Muslim Writers — Qalb Writers Collective
REVIEW: The First Jasmines — Thawra
Saima Begum on Bangladesh’s birangona women — Southasia Review of Books podcast
Saima Begum on her debut novel The First Jasmines — The Skinny
EXTRACT: The First Jasmines — Wasafiri
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31 July 2025
Paperback / 9781914221248
ebook / 9781914221255
198 × 129 mm
248 pages