Suitorland
Famously known throughout their community as the 'It' girls of Yorkshire, Farrah and her sisters were popular, rebellious, edgy, and fashionable 'influencers' of their time and heavily into 1970s British culture and its music scene, much to the dismay of their Punjabi mother.
Set against a backdrop of turbulent multi-cultural and politically volatile Britain and told through the eyes of Farrah, the youngest of four sisters and one brother living in Yorkshire and raised, unbeknown to the wider community, by their single mother, Halima.
Farrah and her mum could often be found in a cold basement kitchen in their small, terraced house where they would prepare delicious five-course meals and banquets for the 'rishtay' meetings, where prospective suitors and their families would visit with a view to marrying one of the sisters.
Suitorland is peppered with stories of some of the hundreds of prospective husbands who visited. Mostly 'unsuitable' ranging from mummy's boys to men who were hiding their true sexuality; others seeking British nationality, one changing the colour of their skin, in a desperate attempt to look brown in order to be accepted.
This novel explores the complexity of mother-daughter relationships and the patriarchy of the time facing all women whose currency was intrinsically linked to marriage; it is about culture clashes and the happy combination of being both from Yorkshire and being Pakistani. It uncovers the secrets and lies that make a family stronger and those that can tear one apart.
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