If It Is Sweet by Mridula Koshy is the 2011 release from the young imprint Brass Monkey Books, which focuses on new and distinctive writing from the Indian sub-continent, publishing work that has not previously been available outside of India. It is a collection of short stories and reveals the social jostling within, and complications of, modern-day Indian society. Throughout her stories Koshy draws out the confusion, tragedy and social nuance in the lives of her (primarily female) characters.

In ‘The Good Mother’, we are thrown headlong into the everyday tragedy of a grieving mother who finds solace in a pilgrimage, as inadequate as she feels the pilgrimage to be. In ‘The Large Girl’ we are in the throes of a lesbian affair that is never going to be made public, no matter how hard one of the players pushes. ‘Stray Blades of Grass’ details a misconstrued friendship that is bound, and ruined, by class. Yes, there is much loss and disappointment in these stories but the overall collection is not bereft of joy. Koshy pulls the reader through without wallowing in despair and in the last story, ‘Passage’, she weaves a sense of calm and of truth out of a husband watching his wife come to terms with the death of her sister.

Occasionally, despite Koshy’s strong and clear writing, I felt I missed elements of the larger emotional landscape because I am not intimate with the nuance of Indian culture. Koshy’s style glances across the details that may have provided me with a more specific insight into her characters’ lives and, I think, this lessened the overall emotional impact of the collection for me. However, If It Is Sweet does deliver stories that plumb the depths of human emotions and is a rewarding read.

Pip Newling, freelance writer and author of Knockabout Girl, is from Readings Hawthorn