Mona Arshi’s prize-winning debut poetry collection, Small Hands (2015), was striking for its crisp phrasing and sensual descriptions of nature, said Cal Revely-Calder in The Daily Telegraph.
The same virtues are present in her “prismatically gorgeous” first novel – narrated by a British Pakistani girl from London who becomes a selective mute. Rose stops speaking one day at primary school, and remains silent for years – resisting “many an adult’s request”. Unfolding in brief, vignette-like chapters, Somebody Loves You is a “fluent construction, and deconstruction, of words”.
Through Rose, we come to understand that her renunciation of speech is an “attempt to opt out of a world incapable of engaging with what she has to say”, said Stephanie Sy-Quia in The Guardian.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
She and her sister are “racialised” – neighbours refer to them as “little brown girls” – and her mother suffers from a mental illness not fully acknowledged in the family. “Use your voice” is a common feminist admonition – but this subtle novel raises the alternative possibility that silence can be a “subversive act of care”.
And Other Stories 176pp £11.99; The Week Bookshop £9.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
MG4 EV XPower review: what the car critics sayFeature The XPower just 'isn't as much fun' as a regular MG4
-
The best student laptops
The Week Recommends Stylish and versatile laptops to use for academic work or gaming
-
6 bucolic homes in New Hampshire
Feature Featuring an island house in Meredith and a private pond in Lee
-
Etaf Rum recommends 6 empowering reads centered around women
Feature The author suggests works by Zora Neale Hurston, Sylvia Plath and more
-
Recipe: beef and broccoli noodles by Pippa Middlehurst
The Week Recommends A simple adaptation of a classic Chinese dish
-
Volcanoes, lakes and jungle ruins in Guatemala
The Week Recommends Discover the 'vibrant indigenous culture' and biodiverse landscape of this Central American paradise
-
Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance review
The Week Recommends Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition features lives affected by the Atlantic slave trade
-
Properties of the week: riverside retreats
The Week Recommends Featuring an enchanting mill house in Hampshire and a converted boathouse in Cornwall
