Star-studded and beautifully written, this collection of twelve diverse stories tackles love and desire by South Asian-heritage British Muslim women authors, including Ayisha Malik (author of This Green and Pleasant Land) and Shelina Janmohamed (author of Love in a Headscarf).

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.

Theese authors write on social issues such as women’s and LGBTQI+ rights within diverse and multicultural societies and, more specifically, speaking to issues such as marriage, spousal migration and sex education.

Claire Chambers teaches postcolonial literature 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 authors live in the UK.