Reshma Ruia will be joining us here instore on Wednesday 17th November to celebrate the launch of her debut short story collection MRS PINTO DRIVES TO HAPPINESS (Dahlia Books). Reshma will be in conversation with The Centre for New Writing’s John McAuliffe.

Doors 6.30pm, event starts 6.45pm

‘’These stories explore areas of conflict in contemporary life – the modern versus the traditional or the individual versus the group or the ethical versus the practical. They dramatize the choices made and the effect of these choices on individual lives that are memorably evoked with care and sympathy.’’ – Colm Toibin

“A thrilling, deeply human collection. By turns life affirming and illuminating” – Irenosen Okojie

About the book:

A lonely woman develops an unhealthy obsession with a celebrity writer. A young man attends the funeral of his gay lover. A feisty woman escapes a life of domestic drudgery. Reshma Ruia’s stories feature characters who confront ageing, love and loss with anger, passion and quiet defiance. They are in search of new beginnings and old certainties; everyday people whose lives oscillate between worlds – geographical, cultural, and emotional – in a constant flux, shaped and reshaped by an imperative to anchor to a map or a feeling.

Reshma Ruia is an award winning writer and poet.Her first novel, Something Black in the Lentil Soup was described in the Sunday Times as ‘a gem of straight-faced comedy.’ Her second novel, A Mouthful of Silence, was shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Award. Reshma’s short stories and poetry has appeared in British and international journals and anthologies and commissioned for BBC Radio 4. Her debut poetry collection, A Dinner Party in the Home Counties won the 2019 Word Masala Award. Born in India, brought up in Italy and now living in England, her writing explores the preoccupations of those who possess a multiple sense of belonging. She is the co-founder of The Whole Kahani-a writers’collective of British South Asian writers.