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Stella feels her body float upwards, a little off the seat. Jasmine cuts a fillet away from the fish and places it on Stella’s plate. Here, she says. To get the taste out. I’ll get you some water as well. Stella turns and runs through the house. In her bedroom, Blue’s velour dress is a loop on the floor. On the dresser, the cherry stones have lost their shine. Stella crawls into bed, pulls her knees up beneath her chin, and waits. Stella’s mother married Jasmine’s father in February. Stella was twelve, Jasmine was eighteen. For their honeymoon, Claire and Frank went to Costa Rica. Stella and Jasmine weren’t invited. When they returned home, Frank announced that he’d booked three weeks in a villa on the smallest island in the Balearics, to make up for it. Jasmine was over from her mother’s. Claire had baked a lemon drizzle.
Frank swims with his bag held above the surface. In her mind, Stella sees the water seeping into all the round outlines of the buttons, the ridges where the Dream Lens has been carved to fit, the film canisters sloshing aqua. Saba Sams was identified by Granta publishers in April 2023 as one of twenty under forty-year-olds authors to watch for the future. Sams has already won the 2022 BBC National Short Story Award, and her short stories have been published in well respected literary magazines including the White Review and The stinging Fly. So her short stories clearly have widespread appeal. Saba Sams's unsettling, full-throated Send Nudes captures girls and young women on the brink of change Jasmine blushes even more then. She has her eyes on her empty plate, and she looks to Stella like she might start to cry. Nico is smiling a little, amused. This book shows the messiness but also empowering stories of different women: covering POV’s from young teens and women trying to navigate modern life. These were stories of mystery and intrigue, grief and humour. Some of the stories covered more serious topics than others. As an introspective collection of short stories, they really delve into the character’s emotions and thought processes/decisions and how these women take control.
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An ode to the women you drunkenly befriend in club toilets, Send Nudes is an astonishing selection of short stories charting the ebb and flow of girlhood. Saba Sams' authoritative yet witty tone of voice shines through, rendering this one of the most exciting books to come out of 2022 Blue pulls the t-shirt over her head. It’s green, with little frills at the sleeves. On it is stitched a felt bumble bee and the words Bee Kind. Sitting in the birthing pool (as though it were a hot tub) in advance of Jara’s labour, Sage notices how her chest “had started to puff up into something like breasts. Floating on top of the water, they resembled the white bellies of two dead fish”. When the newborn arrives, it, too, has aquatic characteristics: “His fish mouth breathed the steamy air.”
I’m always thinking about what it looks like to be a young woman: about bodies and power, about friendships and family, about the ways we’re constantly looking to break free” In ‘The Mothers and The Girls’, the friendship of a pair of schoolgirls, presented as a solid unified entity throughout the story, begins to fall apart as they get to know a boy who shows interest in both of them without discrimination. When they press him to choose between the two of them and he refuses, the girls take the matter into their own hands – the result of which is perhaps the most chilling ending in the collection.I still remember where I was when I first encountered a Saba Sams story ... A highly perceptive and intelligent writer' NICOLE FLATTERY
Frank laughs then, and so does Claire. Stella wonders if Blue was born exceptional, or if it’s the kind of thing that happens gradually. The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our It's a fierce look into womanhood and girlhood. It's all about what it means to be a girl or a woman, using your body or being used, taking charge, growing up, making mistakes... some stories were almost feral and difficult to read, but I loved them all. A roiling, raw, gut-punch of a debut collection, best read in one sitting ... I sat motionless for about half an hour after reading them; I can't wait to see what she writes next' PANDORA SYKESWere there any particular challenges with this story that you felt you had to overcome, or battle as a writer?
Blue’s enjoying this, Stella can tell. There’s something like laughter in her voice. That camera’s worth thousands, says Stella. Think of the films. They’ll be ruined. It's fair to say that some adjectives sound better than others. Using the better adjectives is only a litle white lie, like wearing shapewear, or having lowlights put in at the salon". Frank cut a slice of manchego and lay it down in front of her. Jasmine didn’t touch her cheese. After some minutes, she announced that she’d invited Blue out to join them. Frank threaded his fingers together on the table. The point of this trip, he said, was to spend time together as a four. Send Nudesis full of perceptive, raw accounts from girls growing into women everywhere – in clubs at closing time, on pub toilets, at free spirited music festivals and on make-do beach holidays. What ties the protagonists of each story together is a primal sense of what growing into yourself looks like – often chaotic, sometimes teetering on menacing, and yet always perfectly real. As they battle their own demons and others’ and as they fight for a space to fit into, they reveal some wonderfully incisive universal truths about womanhood.
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Blue leans forward, catches Stella’s eye, and winks. Hey bestie, she says. You wanna split the last fig? Stella feels the inside of her mouth get dry. She pours herself a glass of water from the bottle and takes a sip. Ten startlingly original stories that … seem to come out of nowhere and clamp their jaws shut around you. Exploring the uneven, hazardous terrain between girlhood and womanhood, Sams expertly reveals its inherent contradictions – the rawness and intense vulnerability of teetering on the edge of something new coupled with the power and euphoria that come with self-discovery … Sams' unflinching observation yet tender empathy for each of her characters sets her apart as a bold new talent
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