A Dutiful Boy: A memoir of a gay Muslim’s journey to acceptance (Hardback) Mohsin Zaidi (author)

Mohsin Zaidi: Thursday14th January 6-7pm

Available to staff, parents and pupils of the City of London School. Email invites have been sent out already. Signed copies available below on a first come, first served basis.

Mohsin Zaidi was the first person from his school to go to  Oxford University where he read law. Having grown up in social housing within a devout Muslim community in East London, at university he struggled with his mental health before coming to terms with his sexuality. Mohsin has worked at a UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and at the UK’s Supreme Court. Today he is a criminal barrister at one of the top chambers in the country. He is an advocate for LGBT rights, BAME representation and social mobility. He is on the board of Stonewall, and is also a governor of his former secondary school His memoir, ‘A Dutiful Boy’, has been critically acclaimed.

NAMED IN THE GUARDIAN AND GQ MAGAZINE‘S BEST BOOKS OF 2020

‘This is the story of a family’s love, a battle with shame and a long journey to acceptance. It is deeply moving and profoundly important and it made me cry,’ Elizabeth Day, author of How to Fail

Discover a powerful coming of age memoir about growing up queer in a strict Muslim household.

Mohsin grew up in a poor pocket of east London, in a devout shia Muslim community. His family were close-knit and religiously conservative. From a young age, Mohsin felt different but in a home where being gay was inconceivable he also felt very alone.

Outside of home Mohsin went to a failing inner city school where gang violence was a fact of life. As he grew up life didn’t seem to offer teenage Mohsin any choices: he was disenfranchised from opportunity and isolated from his family as a closet gay Muslim.

But Mohsin had incredible drive and became the first person from his school to go to Oxford University. At university came the newfound freedom to become the man his parents never wanted him to be. But when he was confronted by his father and a witch doctor invited to ‘cure’ him Mohsin had to make a difficult choice.

Mohsin’s story takes harrowing turns but it is full of life and humour, and, ultimately, it is an inspiring story about breaking through life’s barriers.