'Born or brought up in Britain, we suffer at the hands of oppressive parents. These comical or villainous figures hold us back from the pleasures of Western life: they don t let us drink alcohol or eat meat; they force us to wear suits or keep top-knots. They want us to have arranged marriages. When we resist, they resort to emotional blackmail or physical force.' This perspective has become a cliché dominating British Asian narratives, argues editor Kavita Bhanot.
It has become a bankable, marketable formula, and it is stifling to a new generation of writers who don t want to conform to its conventions. The contributors submitting their stories knew they would not be told they were 'Too Asian, or not Asian enough'. From this freedom comes a startlingly diverse and original range of stories.
A collector of hair arrives at a European village and a frightened traveller wanders the twilit streets of Jerusalem; an argument erupts at a cocaine-fuelled party and a miniaturist unwittingly precipitates the downfall of David Beckham; a jilted lover takes a foodie revenge on his ex-wife and a nosy grandmother takes spying on her neighbours too far . . . Here is an anthology of twenty-one stories funny, shocking, moving, thought-provoking in which writers such as Gautam Malkani, Nikesh Shukla, Niven Govinden and Bidisha sit alongside thrilling new voices published for the first time.
Paperback
1111 pages
15 x 2 x 25 cm
