Short Story Month: Generational Epics

The next collection in our Short Story Month series is a generational narrative so epic it had to have a post of its own. Coconut Dreams by Derek Mascarenhas is a collection of linked stories that takes you on a novel-like journey of a lifetime – several, actually-  as each story captures a different history of the Pinto family.

Read this collection if you like stories about family, long journeys, and polyvocal narratives.

Coconut Dreams by Derek Mascarenhas

Coconut Dreams explores the lives of the Pinto family through seventeen linked short stories. Starting with a ghost story set in Goa, India in the 1950s, the collection weaves through various timelines and perspectives to focus on two children, Aiden and Ally Pinto. These siblings tackle their adventures in a predominantly white suburb with innocence, intelligence and a timid foot in two distinct cultures. Derek Mascarenhas takes a fresh look at the world of the new immigrant and the South Asian experience in Canada. In these stories, a daughter questions her father’s love at an IKEA grand opening; an aunt remembers a safari-gone-wrong in Kenya; an uncle’s unrequited love is confronted at a Goan Association picnic; a boy tests his faith amidst a school-yard brawl; and a childhood love letter is exchanged during the building of a backyard deck. Singularly and collectively, these stories will move the reader with their engaging narratives and authentic voices.