A beautifully written short story collection that charts the lives of racialized women as they navigate their relationships, aspirations, and the burdens of memory and expectations

This collection of finely wrought short stories explores the often invisible lives of racialized women as they walk through their days, navigating mundane microaggressions, trying on ill-fitting roles, and managing emotions they never allow others to see. There is the wife who uses the name of her white husband in public. There is the mother who cleans the small-town hospital while her daughter moves to the city and suppresses their shared past. There is the teen girl who obeys her parents even as she watches her rebellious older sister slip further and further away. Each of these characters is both familiar and singular, reminding us of women we have been, of our mothers and daughters, neighbors and adversaries.

Like Alice Munro, Kirti Bhadresa is a keen observer of humanity, especially of the BIPOC women whose domestic and professional work is the backbone of late-stage capitalism but whose lives receive so little attention in mainstream culture. An Astonishment of Stars is a collection that sees those who are unseen and cuts to the heart of contemporary womanhood, community collisions, and relationships both chosen and forced upon us.

Kirti Bhadresa's profile page

Kirti Bhadresa’s fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire, The Quarantine Review, The Sprawl, and Room, and she has been a finalist for the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association Award in the category of Feature Writing. Bhadresa lives with her family in Calgary, AB, on Treaty 7 territory.

“To be a contemporary racialized woman is to be noticed but also invisible, and Bhadresa deftly explores these paradoxical spaces. A gorgeously observed collection by a wonderfully gifted writer.” — Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo-Woo and Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality: Stories

“Each of these stories is a small miracle, and I can’t wait to see where Bhadresa’s own star catapults from here.” — Amy Jones, author of Pebble & Dove and Every Little Piece of Me

“In stories that can encompass a novel’s worth of time and events, Kirti Bhadresa melds style and sincerity with her focused craft. With vivid insight into labour, family and different forms of exile, Bhadresa finds light in the imperfect, real lives of her characters.” — Naben Ruthnum, author of Helpmeet

“Sharply observed and gracefully told, Bhadresa offers a collection shining with all the unexpected delights and defeats that make up a life.” — Anuja Varghese, author of Chrysalis

“From rebellious teens to a levitating aunty, An Astonishment of Stars brings us unforgettable characters in stories ranging from the everyday to the fantastical. A great talent and a great read.” — Naheed Nenshi, former mayor of Calgary