A Match Made in Heaven
Edited by Clare Chambers, Nafhesa Ali & Richard Phillips
Category:
Fiction
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Collection
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Short Stories
ABOUT THE BOOK
Star-studded and beautifully written, this collection of diverse stories about love and desire by South Asian-heritage British Muslim women authors, including Ayisha Malik and Shelina Janmohamed .
Although outsiders often expect Muslim women to be timid, conservative, or submissive, the reality is different. While some of these authors express a quiet piety and explore poignant situations, others use black humour and biting satire, or play with possibilities. Still others shade into the territory of a Muslim Fifty Shades of Grey, creating grey areas where the mainstream media sees only black and white.
If grooming-gang scandals grab headlines, characters are more scandalized by suitors’ sloppy personal grooming. Finding the right crimson lipstick for a date or the perfect power outfit for meeting a cheating ex-husband are commoner preoccupations than the news.
Stylish but far from shallow, the stories also reflect on migration, racism, arranged marriage, gender differences, lesbian desire, bearding, and many other subjects .
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Claire Chambers teaches postcolonial literature at the University of York. Her fascination with Muslim South Asia was sparked by a teenage year spent in Peshawar.
Nafhesa Ali is a sociologist and the lead postdoctoral researcher for the Storying Relationship project at Sheffield University. She researches gender, age, the life course, and methods.
Richard Phillips is a geographer and Storying Relationships’ principal investigator at Sheffield University. His research interests include contemporary multiculturalism and the world after Empire.
All three live in the UK.
REVIEWS
'What happens when Muslim chick-lit grows up? This delightfully edgy new book definitely have the answers’
Caroline Hollick, Head of Drama, C4
'These stories are poignant, warm, open, psychologically insightful, a reflection on modern Britain and society. They are a pleasure to read.' – Paul Burke
‘I found much to enjoy in this book, being able to explore its diversity in the contributions it contains, and would definitely recommend it.’
– Joules Barham,
A Northern Reader Blog