Francesca Rhydderch

The editors of New Welsh Short Stories had only two criteria, that the writer should be born or living in Wales and that the work should be originally in English. The resulting collection of nineteen stories has a wide range of themes, locations and even lengths.

There is a strong emphasis on realism. Often the stories focus on the poor or excluded. In `Yes Kung Fu' by Joâo Morais the narrator becomes comically embroiled in helping a chaotic man back to his carer, disrupting the precarious order in his own life.

In `Rising-Falling' by Joe Dunthorne a physics professor falls in love with a woman on the internet and travels to meet her. The author challenges the apparent predictability of the story head on through the unique voice and insights of the narrator.

Other stories are more playful with form. Among these I liked `A Letter from Wales' by Cynan Jones, an odd account of a nineteenth-century researcher into children afflicted by mysterious bites, complete with diagrams.

`Liar's Sonnet' by Zillah Bethell gives a haunting, childlike voice to Einstein's mysterious daughter, Lieserl. In `John Henry' by Mary-Ann Constantine, a man in crisis finds his life disrupted by visions and fragments of song.

My favourite is `17' by Thomas Morris, the story of a seventeen-year-old told in seventeen short chapters. He feels his life escalate out of control as he negotiates arrest, a rampaging neighbour and wrestling women. And there's a castle. This is Wales after all.
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I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)