“Every Italian city had its own unique smell. In Turin, it was praline. In Venice, it was the odour of the canals during low tide. Florence had its own 800-year-old apothecary set up by Dominican monks, with pot pourri fermented in centuries-old terracotta jars. In Milan, it was the perfume houses. Glamorous staff – atomisers at the ready – stood outside black-painted shop fronts with high semi-circular windows. The interior, dark as a witch’s lair, was decked with rows and rows of handblown bottles with glass stoppers, bearing names like Romanza, Paradiso and Lost Alice. Samira was used to feeling as if she shouldn’t be somewhere.“
Shadow Puppets of Turin
A young Moroccan woman makes a new life for herself in Italy, only to find herself implicated in an abuse scandal. Shadow Puppets of Turin explores the fragility of the migrant experience and collusion among corrupt authorities.
Tehmina is an award-winning legal policy professional and charity director in the field of equality, human rights and community development, with over 15 years’ experience in the UK and Ireland.
She has written opinion pieces for a wide variety of publications including The Guardian, The Independent and Open Democracy. Tehmina has read from her fiction at the Cork International Short Story Festival, the Polari Literary Salon and the University of Leicester.