DESCRIPTION:
Caught between cultures, immigrant women from a Bangladeshi neighbourhood in Scarborough struggle to navigate their home, relationships, and happiness.
Set in both Canada and Bangladesh, the eight stories in Home of the Floating Lily follow the lives of everyday people as they navigate the complexities of migration, displacement, love, friendship, and familial conflict. A young woman moves to Toronto after getting married but soon discovers her husband is not who she believes him to be. A mother reconciles her heartbreak when her sons defy her expectations and choose their own paths in life. A lonely international student returns to Bangladesh and forms an unexpected bond with her domestic helper. A working-class woman, caught between her love for Bangladesh and her determination to raise her daughter in Canada, makes a life-altering decision after a dark secret from the past is revealed.
In each of the stories, characters embark on difficult journeys in search of love, dignity, and a sense of belonging.
Silmy Abdullah is a Toronto based writer. She writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction work has been published by Second Story Press and she is currently working on a short story collection on the Bengali immigrant experience in Toronto. She is an alumnus of Toronto’s Diaspora Dialogues Program for emerging writers.
Further reading:
Read: Reflection, The New Quarterly
Review: forthcoming
Prompt: Write about a secret you’ve kept.