PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Huma Qureshi is an award-winning writer, and former Observer and Guardian reporter. Her memoir How We Met: A Memoir of Love and Other Misadventures was published in January 2021 by Elliott & Thompson, to critical acclaim, chosen by Stylist as one of 2021's best non-fiction. She is the winner of the 2020 Harper's Bazaar Short Story Prize. She is now writing her first novel, an enchanting story about family, belonging and identity. She lives in London.
Qureshi's stories keenly identify the everyday tragedies of feeling profoundly unknown or unheard, of holding secrets and misunderstandings . . . These tales vividly capture the experience of feeling constrained by family expectations, but also of not quite fitting the norms of British culture either . . . Qureshi takes the reader plausibly inside the inner recess of characters' hearts and minds. Premonition beautifully recalls the intensity of a first crush, developed via a private symphony of glances , before a bewildering first kiss leads to disaster. And she captures how such incidents can, in adulthood, seem insignificant and still life-defining . . . there are so many striking images to relish. -- Holly Williams * Observer * A fine debut . . . these are well told stories with well realised characters . . . Qureshi, like [Jhumpa] Lahiri, is a companionable and considered writer, and this is a collection you can read enjoyably, rain or shine. -- Shahidha Bari * Guardian * Intimate and incredibly insightful * Stylist * A deft, satisfying and poignant collection of stories which pivot around a moment of shock or revelation - and challenge the idea that shame can be unburdened and secrets liberated, by sharing them with others. I loved it. -- Pandora Sykes A series of beautifully written short stories examining the pent-up frustrations and the everyday betrayals that even our closest relationships can cause. -- Francesca Brown, <i>Stylist</i> Christmas 2021 Gift Guide Huma Qureshi writes the inarticulable distances between mothers and daughters, the consuming ache of longing for someone not yet kissed, the invisible, irreparable breaches in friendships or between lovers, with such pitch-perfect precision, such lightness of touch. These are stories of fierce clarity and tenderness - I loved them. -- Lucy Caldwell, author of <i>Intimacies</i> I admired Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love. Qureshi writes with courage and in these extraordinary stories capture the shame and loneliness of non-belonging and the challenge of self-acceptance. -- Ingrid Persaud, author of <i>Love After Love</i> In this rich collection of stories, Huma Qureshi shows us the truth, mess and beauty of humans trying - and often failing - to understand each other. Just like love itself, her stories are full of honesty and mystery, pain and hope, and the memories we think we've forgotten, but that still steer our hearts. I'm still thinking about them. And Huma Qureshi is a writer I know I'll be reading for years and years and years. -- Natasha Lunn, author of <i>Conversations on Love</i> This collection has reminded me how much I love short stories . . . I devoured it cover to cover . . . the whole collection is seriously wise and moving; one I know I'm going to revisit. -- Anna Bonet * Well Read * A sturdy, and very often moving, debut collection. -- Katie Goh * The Skinny *
