A review by bethj1x
The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write by Sabrina Mahfouz

3.0

As an anthology there were some really interesting pieces, and it has been brilliantly structured by the editor Sabrina Mahfouz to pull together a range of short stories, plays, poetry and essays to really showcase the work of the writers. I struggled to get into some of the short stories, and much preferred the non-fiction. Surprisingly I really enjoyed quite a lot of the poetry within the book, something which I have not really delved into in the past. I try to be varied in the authors which I read and this was a great way to find new authors, particularly those you are British, Muslim and Women (as the title suggests!). I will definitely be checking out more work by some of the authors.

My personal favourites include:

1. Kamila Shamsie's The Girl Next Door
2. Ahdaf Soueif's Mezzaterra
3. Seema Begum's Uomini Cadranno
4. Aisha Mirza's Staying Alive Through Brexit: Racism, Mental Health and Emotional Labour
5. Sabrina Mahfouz's Battleface (this is the one that has stuck with me the most since I finished reading the book - absolutely captivating)
6. Hanan al-Shaykh's An Eye That Sees


Book was read as it was the January/February 2019 Our Shared Shelf (OSS) Book Club pick.