Hot off the press- Farahad Zama has won the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance 2009.

Farahad Zama’s debut novel The Marriage Bureau for Rich People has won the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance this year. Farahad succeed’s Lisa Jewell’s 31 Dream Street which was last year’s winner, and wins a cheque for £5,000 and I am sure far more readership of his books! 

Here’s the synopsis of the winning book:

“Mr Ali decides to open a marriage bureau that will cater for a wide range of Indian clients from all walks of life and, encouraged by the indomitable Mrs Ali, he has the good sense to appoint a local girl, Aruna, as his very able assistant. Under Mr Ali’s and Aruna’s imaginative care the marriage bureau flourishes as it sorts out the future for many happy clients, although meanwhile things are not running so smoothly for everyone in the office as Aruna is nursing a secret that threatens to break her heart, while Mr Ali is unable to see that he himself doesn’t follow the wise advice he so readily offers to those who come for help…”

For more information about the awards which are held in honour of the late author Melissa Nathan, see the website: http://www.melissanathan.com/Award/

Congratulations to Farahad on his win, and commiserations to the other nominated authors including Jane Costello, Trisha Ashley, Miriam Morrison, Juliet Archer and Kate Harrison.

I LOVED Kate Harrison’s Book – the Secret Shoppers Revenge AND Recipe for Disaster by Miriam Morrison, so I shall now have to order this book too!

Oh how I suffer in the interest of research!