by Banu Mushtaq
First published 2025
A young girl watches her grandmother defy the village maulvi with sharp words and sharper wit. A mother hides her exhaustion behind forced smiles as her husband stumbles through another failed business venture. Children scheme and plot while adults argue over money, marriage, and reputation. These women and girls live in Muslim communities across southern India, where tradition clashes with personal desire and family loyalty wars with individual dreams. Mushtaq draws from her background as both journalist and lawyer to create portraits that reveal how women survive the weight of expectation. Her characters speak in the rhythms of real conversation, their humor dry and their observations cutting. The stories capture moments when ordinary life reveals its hidden tensions and small rebellions become acts of courage.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, family-life, 21st-century, asian-american
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, small-rebellions
Setting: India, Southern India
Period: Contemporary
215 pages · Paperback · And Other Stories