Jane Fraser is an award-winning novelist and short story writer based in the Gower peninsula, south Wales. Her debut novel Advent, won the 2022 Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Memorial Prize.
New – Weights and Measures _ Watermark Press/25
Weights and Measures is an unhurried historical novel that ends as surprisingly for the characters as the reader. It follows an outwardly ordinary family, living in a working class suburb of Swansea, during the early days of World War II, exploring inner lives of fear, passion, and hope.
Preoccupied with their secrets, they live in almost suspended animation, waiting for an end to the weeks and months of apparent nothing – the so-called ‘phoney war.’ None of them are prepared for the real war when it begins – devastating and senseless, reconfiguring their lives forever. But out of tragedy, there is a speck of hope…
“Against the epic backdrop of the Second World War, Fraser’s intimate love letter to Swansea bursts with passion, humour, and heart—a sweeping family saga so compelling readers won’t want to put it down.”
Euros Lyn, BAFTA-winning Film and Television Director
You can pre-order a copy of Weights and Measures from Watermark Press:
Connective Tissue _ Salt/22
This collection of short fiction aims to define the sometimes indefinable and give voice to those struggling to make sense of what life throws at them.
The stories are tragic and comi-tragic, but all reveal the strength and complexity of the human spirit. They bring poignant insights on grief, loss and longing and the depths and strangeness of the human psyche and how we manage to survive and just about cope.
“Separate but intricately linked stories, artfully told. Sinew, bone and blood unite vividly in gripping tales of male violence, women’s pain, regret and the ties that bind.”
Ruth McKee, The Irish Times
You can order a copy of Connective Tissue from:
Salt | Griffin Books | Amazon | Waterstones
Advent _ Honno/21
Winner of the 2022 SoA Paul Torday Memorial Prize
Winter, 1904, and feisty twenty-one-year-old Ellen has been summoned back from her new life in Hoboken, New Jersey, to the family farm on windswept Gower, in a last bid to prevent the impending death of her alcoholic father.
Resourceful, passionate, and forthright, can she remain in Gower, where being female still brings with it so many limitations? Can she endure being so close to her lost love? Will she choose home and duty, or excitement and opportunity across the Atlantic?
“Vivid and poetic, Jane Fraser’s Advent is a well-deserved winner. It is an outstanding tale, made all the more unforgettable and powerful by its remarkable hush and restraint.”
Donald S Murray, Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Memorial Prize judge
You can order a copy of Advent from:
Honno | Amazon | Waterstones
The South Westerlies _ Salt/19
The South Westerlies, a collection of short stories, takes its name from the winds that sweep across the Gower peninsula, south Wales, the UK’s first-ever designated area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
The glimpses of lives lived present an out of season perspective. Themes of grief and loss loom large – listless, claustrophobic, embittered and mournful – the characters peopling the pages of The South Westerlies are imbued with a greyness of spirit that matches the mood of the wind as they struggle to ‘make do’ as best they can.
“The South Westerlies is deliciously engaging, each elegantly crafted tale emanating a spare, poetic beauty.”
Jenny White, arts & culture writer, Western Mail
You can order a copy of The South Westerlies from:
Salt | Griffin Books | Amazon | Waterstones
News/Events
Jane Fraser (Wales) and Kathleen B Jones (USA) in conversation with Elaine Canning at Swansea Waterstones.