Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love

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The writing is easy to get into, almost lyrical, and I enjoy that. I also appreciate how each story examines the different ways love can turn sour in our relationships— be it platonic, romantic, friendship, etc. Even how grief, loss, and resentment can taint love is also well explored.

A writer, as a good psychologist, needs to know and intuitively feel the essence of the human soul, and here Qureshi does a great job creating realistic personalities, powerful in their simultaneous clarity and complexity. These are stories about children and parents trying to establish an elusive connection between generations, spouses learning the nature of love and marriage, lovers and friends who are losing and finding each other. Every text serves as a reminder that literature can be a mirror on real life, beautiful in all its imperfections. Huma Qureshi writes the inarticulable distances between mothers and daughters, the consuming ache of longing for someone not yet kissed, the invisible, irreparable breaches in friendships or between lovers, with such pitch-perfect precision, such lightness of touch. These are stories of fierce clarity and tenderness - I loved them.In the story, Too Much, which is possibly my favorite on the list, a daughter gradually leaves her dependent mother's life before changing her identity and disappearing entirely, leaving the mother sad and distraught. It was raw, poignant, and intellectually stimulating. This sort of thing happened every so often when they had been speaking too frequently or for too long, resentment tinting every word they exchanged like the threat of grey rain in cold spring

He has shown her many places and many cities, holding them open and unfolded for her in the palm of his hand like a pop-up greeting card for her to stroll about in next to him, both of them side by side A lush, powerful tale of family and sisterhood from award-winning author Chika Unigwe, perfect for fans of Bernardine Evaristo and Tayari JonesI started my career on The Observer and The Guardian and worked as a reporter and features writer across consumer news, news and the life and style sections before going freelance to write my first book, In Spite of Oceans, published in 2014 by The History Press. In Spite of Oceans received the John C. Laurence Award from The Authors’ Foundation. On holiday, we betray otherwise carefully concealed anxieties. Perhaps it is the fatigue of travel that sparks irritability, or the discombobulation of new places that somehow more sharply illuminates faults that are usually overlooked. Whatever the case, it’s also true that short story collections, when the tales are neat and portable like Qureshi’s, are good company on travels. Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love feels like an excellent holiday book – making it a slightly odd release for autumn.