'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.
'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/.