Cut on the Bias: Stories about women and the clothes they wear
Anthology
Editor: Stephanie Tillotson
£8.99 BUY THIS BOOK
"Clothes - objects of desire, armour, a comfortable friend or a revengeful enemy. The relationships we have with clothes are beautifully explored in this collection of short stories. Women of all ages will recognise themselves and their emotions in these stories which take us on a journey through wit and humour to heartache and triumph. Reading these stories is better than shopping!" Nicola Heywood-Thomas, Radio Wales Arts Show
An anthology of fictional short stories that explores the intensely personal relationships women have with what they wear; what clothes mean to them; why women choose what they do; how they consume fashion and the subtle and sophisticated shifts in self-perception that the simple act of dressing can represent.
With image as the central metaphor for transformation, all these stories weave colourful pictures of humour and joy, love and friendship, illness and grief, of unfulfilled lives and ugly ducklings that discover their own ways of becoming beautiful swans.
One woman asks what she should wear to meet the mother who gave her up at birth, another writes of the death of a long dead brother, a third straps on her armour to enter the professional world of politics. Then there are those stories that have fun examining our contemporary obsessions with celebrity styling, make-over programmes and women's magazines. Some tales are rites of passage as girls become women who then move on through the various stages and experiences of their adult lives – a wayside bomb rips a life apart, a young adult with Down's Syndrome faces the future with confidence and someone, it seems, is prepared to kill for a handbag!
This is not a one size fits all but has something for every reader. Be they dramatic monologues, tales of the supernatural, painful diary entries or narrative as a witty exchange of emails, all these stories, from exciting, contemporary women's voices, are cut with colour and seamed with magic.
"From haute couture to granny-knit, there's plenty to please in all shapes and sizes."
Trish Simpson-Davis, www.thebookbag.co.uk
"I can marvel at the inventiveness of these 25 women writers from Wales, who fashion their stories around clothes and come up with a whole department store of a book."
Steve Dube, Western Mail
Welsh Independent Booksellers Book of the Month: February 2010
ISBN: 9781906784133
Language: English
Category: Short Stories Anthologies Fiction
First published by Honno in : January 2010
Contributors: Yasmin Ali, Hilary Bowers, Sue Coffey, Alys Conran, Hilary Cooper, Sue Fortune, Carys Green, Christine Harrison, Jenny Henn, Suzy Ceulan Hughes, Lorraine Jenkin, Rebecca Lees, Jo Lloyd, Jean Lyon, Barbara McGaughey, Debbie Moon, Joanna Piesse, Claudia Rapport, Rin Simpson, Kerry Steed, Sarah Todd Taylor, Stephanie Tillotson, Eloise Williams,
01970 623150
