If you could save someone's life, would you? Anyone's? Ali's older brother has a swastika tattooed on his knuckles, a prison ID number for nearly beating an immigrant to death, and spent his teenage years ruthlessly persecuting Ali for being gay. Blood may be thicker than water, but Ali has spent most of his life desperate to prove he is nothing like Tony. A committed vegetarian, charity-supporter, and blood donor, Ali would do anything for anyone. Ali may share parentage with Tony, but he’s determined not to share anything else if he can help it. So when Tony contracts leukaemia, and Ali is the only match for the urgently-needed bone marrow transplant, Ali is caught between two equally awful choices: to refuse and condemn a man to death, or to donate. And in donating, save the life of the man who nearly murdered Ali's Iraqi boyfriend?

Thicker Than Bone

“He’s coming through for us again and you better pack your bags and head back to India—oh, I’m Indian now, nice to know—before I get over this and come back down to Nottingham.He can’t spell Nottingham either.”


“He dropped out of school when he was, like, fifteen, he was shit,” Ali croaked. Yazid looked up and frowned.


“Hey,” Yazid repeated, reaching out and squeezing Ali’s bicep. “It’s okay. Relax. It’s just a stupid letter and he can’t spell for shit. Which is pretty crap, coming from me.”


“You’re dyslexic, that’s different from stupid,” Ali mumbled, and shuffled across the tiles for a hug. Yazid ruffled his hair and kissed his temple before returning to the letter. Ali glanced at the scrawling blue script, then looked away to the kitchen window.


“If I get my hands on you again, you…”


Chapter 84