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The Night I Borrowed Time

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What to expect

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A funny, heartbreaking and uplifting tale about family, bravery and living in the here and now, perfect for fans of Time Travelling With a Hamster and Wonder.

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 . . .

'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 . . . A beautiful book' Philippa Leathley

© Iqbal Hussain 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

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
Author Iqbal Hussain
Narrator Esh Alladi
Duration 6 hours and 23 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9780241824238
Format Audiobook
Publisher Penguin Random House Children's UK
Genre Children’s / Teenage fiction: Action and adventure stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Family and home stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Magical realism, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Time travel, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Divorce, separation, family break-up
Availability AU, GB, IE

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