Patchwork

When women from different parts of the world get together around a dining table what do they do? They tell stories. Each person sparks memories and imagination in the others until experience and invention are stitched into a rich patchwork. Join the Dining Table Writers; Vim, Urmilla, Rose, Marlene, Ki, Isabelle and Denise with their tales of a right of passage in traditional Sri Lanka, the art of making dahi in rural India and mysterious events in New Zealand. Uncover family secrets in a wardrobe in Mexico. Find out how a marriage is saved by timely advice from a Filipino nun, how living with the man you love in Lyon is quite a different matter from being a bride in rural Zimbabwe, and what one Oxford student came up against when seeking to visit the capital of seventeenth century Persia. Each story in this collection represents a highly individual interpretation of a situation or relationship where one culture bumps into another and the world tilts, if ever so slightly. Patchwork is the result of collaboration by seven writers and the proceeds will go to the Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund, a charity which awards grants to women from developing countries.