An anthology of the winning entries in the Jane Austen Short Story Award 2009, which celebrates the bicentenary of Jane Austen's arrival in Chawton, where she spent the most productive years of her literary life. Introduced by Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.

Detholiad o straeon byrion a enillodd wobr Jane Austen 2009, sy'n nodilu dau gan mlwynedd oddi ar i Jane Austen symud i Chawton, lle treuliodd hi rai o flynyddoedd mwyaf cynhyrchiol ei gyrfa lenyddol. Gyda chyflwyniad gan Sarah Waters, awdur Tipping the Velvet a Fingersmith.

Jane Austen is a cultural icon, thanks partly to the screen adaptations of her novels over the years. Honno have taken advantage of her popularity by organising a short story competition. All the contributions take as their starting point her novels or her Hampshire home, Chawton House. Here we can read the three prize winners together with the runners up. All these are notable for their originality and, in the words of Sarah Walters, ‘lead us back to Austen with fresh eyes.’

In the winning story, ‘Jane Austen Over the Styx’, the author finds herself on trial when she faces charges of misrepresenting some of her characters. ‘I wanted to show them turning the tables on her,’ writes Victoria Owens in a footnote.

Kirsty Mitchell’s ‘Jayne’ is a pastiche of the ‘Chick Lit’ genre and is lively and amusing. The same can be said of Jacquai Hazell’s ‘The School Trip’ which centres around the museum at Chawton on a day when it was overrun by a party of school-children.

Both as writer and reader I am resistant to much of the new technology. This is a theme taken up by Lane Ashfeldt as a result of a visit to Chawton House in order to read the fiction of Mary Shelley. This is a story that I read four times, a stamp of approval for any story.

Even if you don’t read any other collection of short stories in the near future, do read this one. You will not be disappointed.

Dewi Roberts

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.