The Thirty Before Thirty List: An uplifting novel about missed chances and new beginnings

'Totally charming' EVA VERDE 'An engaging and enjoyable romcom' ALIYA ALI-AFZAL 'A warm hug of a book' SARA JAFARI Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2025 and the Diverse Book Awards 2025. Maya's life is safe, predictable, quiet . . . She spends her days at the same job she's been at for years, her evenings watching Bollywood movies with her parents and her Saturday nights eating out at the same restaurant with her childhood best friend. When Maya meets Noah on the Underground, for twenty glorious minutes her life becomes exciting. Until he jumps off the train, accidentally leaving behind a notebook containing a list of thirty things he wants to do before he turns thirty. Crushed by the abrupt ending to what could have been her happily ever after, Maya challenges herself to work through the items on his list, secretly hoping that whilst climbing out of her rut and (quite literally) climbing mountains, she may find Noah as well as herself. Instead, she meets Zakariya; an annoying suitor brought to her by her parents via a dodgy marriage CV. But how can a flawed, real life person ever compare to the man in the notebook?