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Small Scale Sinners: Stories
A scintillating debut story collection examining a fundamental question: What does it mean to be good?
In twelve kaleidoscopic stories, Mahreen Sohail shifts our perspective on this question from moment to moment. Two girls observe a group of child soldiers and one reflects: “My sister and I were only small scale sinners.” A chorus of sixth graders unravels a school year they spend obsessed with their twin classmates. A girl cuts off her beautiful long hair for her boyfriend’s dying mother, but he immediately wishes she hadn’t. Alternate, parallel lives are considered. With startling observations and economy of language, Sohail dives ever deeper into the question, asking how—in the midst of grief or betrayal, against a backdrop of war, or even just workaday suffering—being good matters. Small Scale Sinners announces the arrival of an extraordinary talent.
In twelve kaleidoscopic stories, Mahreen Sohail shifts our perspective on this question from moment to moment. Two girls observe a group of child soldiers and one reflects: “My sister and I were only small scale sinners.” A chorus of sixth graders unravels a school year they spend obsessed with their twin classmates. A girl cuts off her beautiful long hair for her boyfriend’s dying mother, but he immediately wishes she hadn’t. Alternate, parallel lives are considered. With startling observations and economy of language, Sohail dives ever deeper into the question, asking how—in the midst of grief or betrayal, against a backdrop of war, or even just workaday suffering—being good matters. Small Scale Sinners announces the arrival of an extraordinary talent.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
136 pages, Paperback
Published September 16, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 6, 2025
A fantastic collection of stories about the lives of Pakistani girls and women.
Often living in the shadow of another person—an elderly parent, a sick parent, a strict parent, a sister, a husband—these women rebel in acts that vary in their severity. Some sins are small, but the consequences are harsh—a teenage girl sneaks out with a boy and is thrown out of her home, a girl leaves her sister behind to attend college in America and her sister soon gets in a serious accident. Other sins are large, unforgivable, but they go unpunished—two sisters kidnap a young girl and hand her over to become a child soldier, school girls stab a school official and pass the blame off on two orphan girls.
In other stories, the women imagine the ways in which their lives would be different if they weren’t duty bound to their aging or sick parents. On the flip side, we see the pain and challenge of forging a path of your own, of leaving behind everything and everyone who have shaped you.
Sohail plays with form throughout the collection, making each story feel fresh while still maintaining thematic cohesion throughout. Cutting out all that is extraneous, her writing is clear and direct.
I thought this was great and I hope to see others give it a go! I will certainly keep an eye out for future releases from Sohail.
Often living in the shadow of another person—an elderly parent, a sick parent, a strict parent, a sister, a husband—these women rebel in acts that vary in their severity. Some sins are small, but the consequences are harsh—a teenage girl sneaks out with a boy and is thrown out of her home, a girl leaves her sister behind to attend college in America and her sister soon gets in a serious accident. Other sins are large, unforgivable, but they go unpunished—two sisters kidnap a young girl and hand her over to become a child soldier, school girls stab a school official and pass the blame off on two orphan girls.
In other stories, the women imagine the ways in which their lives would be different if they weren’t duty bound to their aging or sick parents. On the flip side, we see the pain and challenge of forging a path of your own, of leaving behind everything and everyone who have shaped you.
Sohail plays with form throughout the collection, making each story feel fresh while still maintaining thematic cohesion throughout. Cutting out all that is extraneous, her writing is clear and direct.
I thought this was great and I hope to see others give it a go! I will certainly keep an eye out for future releases from Sohail.
October 29, 2025
Rating: 6.5/10
Collection of Pakistan and Pakistan American stories with themes of motherhood and sisterhood. Honestly not bad just felt like a mediocre read at times because the words felt flat.
Collection of Pakistan and Pakistan American stories with themes of motherhood and sisterhood. Honestly not bad just felt like a mediocre read at times because the words felt flat.
August 18, 2025
This is the kind of short story collection that sticks with readers for a long time. The cohesiveness and diversity of the collection creates a really unique mix that blew me away. The writing was impeccable, and I especially liked how the style changed depending on the narrator of the story. I think it’s obvious a collection like this is one-of-a-kind when even just one of these stories would have a huge impact on the reader. I loved this collection!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews