Women's Prize for Fiction 2018

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is the UK’s most prestigious annual book award for fiction written by a woman. Founded in 1996, the Prize was set up to celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women throughout the world.

16 books have made it onto the longlist with a chance of winning on June 6th.  For this week’s blog we’ll be looking at a small selection.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar - One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock hears urgent knocking on his front door. One of his captains is waiting eagerly on the step. He has sold Jonah’s ship for what appears to be a mermaid.  As gossip spreads through the docks and coffee shops. everyone wants to see Mr Hancock’s marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society, steering his life onto a dangerous new course…

Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig - After attending school in Calcutta, Benny settles in Rangoon, then part of the British Empire, and falls in love with Khin, a woman who is part of a long-persecuted ethnic minority group, the Karen. World War II comes to Southeast Asia, and Benny and Khin must go into hiding in the eastern part of the country during the Japanese Occupation, beginning a journey that will lead them to change the country's history. Based on the story of the author's mother and grandparents, Miss Burma is a captivating portrait of how modern Burma came to be and of the ordinary people swept up in the struggle for self-determination and freedom.

A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert - Early on a grey November morning in 1941, only weeks after the German invasion, a small Ukrainian town is overrun by the SS. A Boy in Winter tells of the three days that follow and the lives that are overturned in the process. And in the midst of it all is the determined boy Yankel who will throw his and his young brother's chances of surviving to strangers.

A Boy in Winter is a story of hope when all is lost, and of mercy when the times have none.

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt - Just after 11am on 4th August 1892, the bodies of Andrew and Abby Borden are discovered. He’s found on the sitting room sofa, she upstairs on the bedroom floor, both murdered with an axe.

It is younger daughter Lizzie who is first on the scene, so it is Lizzie who the police first question, but there are others in the household with stories to tell: older sister Emma, Irish maid Bridget, the girls’ Uncle John, and a boy who knows more than anyone realises.

We’ll be back in two weeks so, until then, have a cracking Easter and happy reading!

Y Wobr i Fenywod am Ffuglen yw’r wobr lyfrau flynyddol mwyaf ei bri yn y DU am ffuglen a ysgrifennwyd gan fenyw.  Sefydlwyd y wobr yn 1996 er mwyn dathlu rhagoriaeth, gwreiddioldeb a hygyrchedd mewn ysgrifennu gan fenywod trwy’r byd.

Cyrhaeddodd 16 llyfr y rhestr hir gyda chyfle o ennill ar Fehefin 6ed.  Ar gyfer blog yr wythnos yma byddwn yn edrych ar ddewis dethol ohonyn nhw.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock gan Imogen Hermes Gowar - Un noson o Fedi yn 1785, mae’r masnachwr Jonah Hancock yn clywed cnocio ar ddrws y tŷ. Un o’i gapteiniaid sydd ar y stepen. Mae e wedi gwerthu llong Jonah am yr hyn sy’n ymddangos fel môr-forwyn.  Wrth i’r sïon ledaenu trwy’r dociau a’r siopau coffi, mae pawb am weld rhyfeddod Mr Hancock.  Mae ei dyfodiad yn ei symud allan o’i fyd cyffredin ac i mewn trwy ddrysau’r cylchoedd uchaf, gan arwain ei fywyd ar hyd llwybr newydd, peryglus …

Miss Burma gan Charmaine Craig- Ar ôl mynychu’r ysgol yn Calcutta, mae Benny’n setlo yn Rangoon, a oedd bryd hynny’n rhan o’r Ymerodraeth Brydeinig ac mae’n cwympo mewn cariad â Khin, menyw sy’n rhan o grŵp lleiafrifol sydd wedi cael eu herlid ers amser maith, y Karen. Daw’r Ail Ryfel Byd i Dde Ddwyrain Asia ac mae’n rhaid i Benny a Khin ffoi a chuddio yn rhan ddwyreiniol y wlad yn ystod meddiannaeth y Japaneaid, gan ddechrau ar siwrnai a fydd yn eu harwain at newid hanes y wlad. Mae Miss Burma’n seiliedig ar hanes mam a mam-gu a thad-cu’r awdur ac mae’n stori gyfareddol am sut ddaeth y Burma fodern i fod ac am y bobl gyffredin sy’n cael eu dal yn y frwydr dros hunanlywodraeth a rhyddid.

A Boy in Winter gan Rachel Seiffert – Yn gynnar ar fore Tachwedd llwyd yn 1941, wythnosau’n unig ar ôl goresgyniad yr Almaenwyr, mae tref fach yn yr Wcráin yn llawn SS. Mae A Boy in Winter y dweud am y tri diwrnod sy’n dilyn a’r bywydau sy’n cael eu chwyldroi yn y broses. Yng nghanol y cyfan mae bachgen ifanc, Yankel a fydd yn ildio ei gyfle, a chyfle ei frawd i oroesi, i bobl ddieithr.

Mae A Boy in Winter yn stori o obaith pan fod pob dim wedi’i golli, ac am drugaredd pan nad oes dim o gwmpas.

See What I Have Done gan Sarah Schmidt - Ychydig wedi 11am ar 4ydd Awst 1892, mae cyrff Andrew ac Abby Borden yn cael eu darganfod. Mae e ar soffa’r ystafell fyw, a hithau ar lawr yr ystafell wely, y ddau wedi’u llad â bwyell. Eu merch ieuengaf, Lizzie yw’r cyntaf i gyrraedd, felly hi sy’n cael ei holi gyntaf gan yr heddlu, ond mae yna eraill yn y cartref sydd â straeon i’w dweud: y chwaer hŷn Emma, y forwyn Wyddelig, Bridget, John, ewythr y merched, a bachgen sy’n gwybod mwy na mae pawb yn sylweddoli.

Byddwn ni ‘nôl mewn rhyw bythefnos felly, tan hynny, Pasg Hapus i chi a digon o ddarllen!