First published 2025
Two sisters witness child soldiers and one makes a stark comparison. They are only small scale sinners, she thinks. Across twelve interconnected stories, characters grapple with moral choices both large and small. Sixth graders become fixated on their twin classmates, dissecting every interaction throughout an entire school year. A young woman sacrifices her long hair for her boyfriend's dying mother, only to watch his immediate regret. Characters consider the lives they might have lived instead. Each story peels back another layer of what goodness means when life delivers grief, betrayal, and everyday disappointments. Sohail examines how people try to do right when the world around them makes moral clarity nearly impossible. The characters face choices that seem simple but reveal themselves as anything but straightforward.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, anthologies, coming-of-age, contemporary
Vibes: contemplative, intimate, introspective, melancholic, morally-complex, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, interconnected-narratives, moral-ambiguity, unreliable-perception
Period: 21st-century
144 pages · Paperback · A Public Space Books
Content warnings: child-abuse, death