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Here Be Dragons co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless - opens 13 July. Admission included with ticket to the Galleries

1001 Stories Collection

(Un)arranged Marriage

1001 Unarranged Marriage
Added on 11th September 2020

Author Bali Rai
First published 2001
Publisher Random House, London

Family Identity and fairness Friends
1001

Manny struggles to balance the cultural traditions of his family with what he wants from his own life.

Story

Manny is a young man from Leicester at odds with the Punjabi community in which he was raised. When his father arranges for him to marry a girl he’s never met, Manny decides to rebel by becoming the worst marriage suitor ever. Appalled by his behaviour, his parents take him on a family trip to India, and it is here where things take a turn … and Manny’s plan to escape his arranged marriage begins.

Why we chose it

A story which explores the tensions for teenagers trying to balance the cultural traditions of their families with what they want and need. Bali Rai writes with authority and understanding.

Where it came from

Bali Rai, like Manny, is a British-Punjabi Sikh from Leicester. He writes about the community he grew up in and his novels capture the reality of being a teenager in the UK today. He wants to write the kind of books he and his friends would have wanted to read – (Un)arranged Marriage is a story he had been thinking about for years before he wrote it.

Associated stories

Bali was inspired by the Adrian Mole books by Sue Townsend, a popular series narrated in diary format by another fictional young man from Leicester. He has written a number of books for teenagers including The Crew, Rani and Sukh, City of Ghosts, Killing Honor, Dream On, and Game On.

Added on 11th September 2020

Author Bali Rai
First published 2001
Publisher Random House, London

Family Identity and fairness Friends
1001