The Night I Borrowed Time

Iqbal Hussain author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Random House Children's UK

Published:1st Jan '26

Should be back in stock very soon

The Night I Borrowed Time cover

'Funny, touching, thought-provoking . . . Richly imagined and deeply inventive' Guardian

'Fresh, affectionate . . . Sweet and sparky' The Times


I’m going back in time to save this family.

Eleven-year-old Zubair is a seventh son. This means a LOT of big brothers. But when Zubair’s granny arrives from Pakistan and gives him a mysterious amulet, he discovers it means something else, too: he has inherited a gift. The seventh sons in his family have the ability to time-travel.

With his dad a shadow of his former self since his car accident, and his mum always tired and angry, Zubair has a genius idea. He’ll use time-travel to fix things between them.

But each trip comes at a cost. If he changes something small in the past, it can have a huge effect on his future. And if he gets it wrong, the results could be devastating . . .

An uplifting, unforgettable story about family, bravery and living in the here and now, perfect for fans of Time Travelling With a Hamster and Wonder.

'Spectacular' Sophie Anderson

'I loved it' Ross Welford

'Funny, exciting and tense . . . A wonderful, wonderful read' Phil Earle

'Will break your heart and make it soar . . . A triumph' Rashmi Sirdeshpande

'Witty and poignant' Louie Stowell

'Refreshingly inventive and gorgeously written . . . I could not put it down' Clare Harlow

'Astonishing' Philippa Leathley

'A small miracle of a book' Max Boucherat

Funny, touching, thought-provoking . . . Richly imagined and deeply inventive * Guardian *
The Night I Borrowed Time gives a fresh, affectionate twist to the usual time-travelling dilemmas . . . Sweet and sparky * The Times *
Winningly told * Financial Times *
Funny . . . Moving * Observer *
This funny, bittersweet story of a family’s past shaping its present is superbly well told * Daily Mail *
Tender . . . Imaginative * The i Paper *
Tender and engaging . . . Blends time travel with a contemporary story of love, loss and the endurance of family * Bookseller *
It takes immense talent to blend the fantastical and the everyday so effortlessly, but Iqbal Hussain delivers on every page. Funny, warm and tense, The Night I Borrowed Time is a wonderful, wonderful read -- Phil Earle, author of When The Sky Falls
I loved it -- Ross Welford, author of Time Travelling With a Hamster
Spectacular - beautifully woven, full of warmth, wit and wisdom, and characters who live on long after the last page is turned -- Sophie Anderson, author of The House With Chicken Legs

ISBN: 9780241742624

Dimensions: 197mm x 128mm x 21mm

Weight: 258g

304 pages