'Tongues and Bellies' is The Whole Kahani's third anthology.
These stories play with lies and truth. Chameleon-like characters clutch at worlds that remain just out of reach. An old recipe, a robot, a key – these are clues to the people they once were or hope to be. Appetite and eating are often central in this collection as characters remember childhood meals, a mother’s cooking, meals with lovers and meals that turn out not as expected. Their appetite for food, as for life, is by turns bitter and sweet but never predictable.
Amit Roy from Eastern Eye attended our event at Canary Wharf and here is the link to his article. He’s captured the spirit and essence of what the anthology and our own writing journey is about.
- Amit Roy, Eastern Eye
'Tongues & Bellies - nuanced short stories written by members of The Whole Kahani. Proust-like explorations of identity seen through the cynosure of appetite. Habituated normative routines, concepts of self-rooted in cultural prescriptive...both adored, & rejected. I plan to immediately re-read it. The contributing authors are just so damn good. Each vignette thematically echoes those it sits amongst, yet each story is a small, nuanced world in its own right. Bravo!'
- Paul Spalding-Mulcock, Yorkshire Times
This is the link to Paul Spalding-Mulcock's full review of Tongues and Bellies in the Yorkshire Times. 3rd June 2023.
‘’I recently read Tongues and Bellies and found it to be a kaleidoscopic, humanistic delight! It consists of fourteen short stories, written by eight members of The Whole Kahani. Together these individual authors have given the reader a dazzling, multihued work as stylistically diverse as it is thematically united.’’
'The absorbing collection of stories, some of which are poetically written, will move and fill you with joy.'
- Mita Mistry, EasternEye
‘Rich, incisive and at times magical, this is a collection to be savoured and cherished. A joy from start to finish.’
– Awais Khan, author of No Honour
‘The best kind of short stories are those that leave you with unanswered questions. This collection of stories does that and more!’
– Asma Khan, Chef & Owner, Darjeeling Express
Praise for The Whole Kahani:
‘A thoroughly modern and lively collection which reaches out across multiple histories and distinctive worlds to capture some of the best in contemporary British Asian women’s writing today.’
– Susheila Nasta MBE, Editor in Chief of Wasafiri
Order your copy via Linen Press: https://www.linen-press.com/shop/tongues-and-bellies/ or Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tongues-Bellies-Whole-Kahani-ebook/dp/B09JD6Y6LL/.