Chatterbox by Lubna Kerr

Chatterbox explores the power of language - how words shape identity, who gets heard, and who gets dismissed.

Growing up in 1970s Glasgow, a five-year-old girl is called “stupid” simply because she can’t yet speak English by her teacher who can’t speak any Urdu.

That single label cuts deeply, though small acts of Glaswegian kindness help her endure.As she settles into her new city, being different makes her a target, and the constant pressure leads her to develop a stutter.

Embarrassed, she hides it, creating quiet coping strategies while navigating a school environment where bullying doesn’t only come from other pupils.Refusing to be defined by the cruelty around her, she carves out her own place in life.

But years later, when her granddaughter develops a stutter, old guilt resurfaces.

Has she passed something on? And how does she finally share the secret she has kept since childhood?