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 eighteen stories are linked by Gower’s physical location and the tone of the rain-drenched wind. They are about the dynamics between people and place, and dig deep to reflect the lives of Gower’s fictional inhabitants behind its pasteurised façade.

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

On writing The South Westerlies
Read Jane’s essay On writing The South Westerlies here.

Black and white cover of a book titled 'The South Westerlies' by Jane Fraser, featuring a windy, leafless tree on a grassy landscape with cloudy sky in the background.

“Fraser’s book is not simply a collection of stories but a painting of a place, rendered bit by bit with elegant brushstrokes. Fraser’s Gower is not the Gower of butterscotch beaches and second homes, but a land of myth and folklore and shattered lives and sudden deaths.”

Harry Readhead, Cardiff Review
“The collection is an original and valuable contribution to the literature of Gower and Wales.”

Tristan Hughes, novelist and short story writer
“They are simple tales beautifully told, layered and nuanced, small moments that somehow make a vast landscape of human experience.”

Paul Burke, NB Magazine

Books

The South Westerlies _ Salt/19

“The South Westerlies is deliciously engaging, each elegantly crafted tale emanating a spare, poetic beauty.”

Jenny White, arts & culture writer, Western Mail

“Fraser’s book is not simply a collection of stories but a painting of a place, rendered bit by bit with elegant brushstrokes. Fraser’s Gower is not the Gower of butterscotch beaches and second homes, but a land of myth and folklore and shattered lives and sudden deaths.”

“The collection is an original and valuable contribution to the literature of Gower and Wales.”

“They are simple tales beautifully told, layered and nuanced, small moments that somehow make a vast landscape of human experience.”