Jane Gardam is an acclaimed novelist who excels in theshort story form. She has twice been awarded the Whitbread/Costa Prize for Best Novel of the Year and she also holds aHeywood Hill Literary Prize for a lifetime’s contribution tothe enjoyment of literature. She was awarded an OBE in 2009.Her most recent novel, Last Friends, was shortlisted for theFolio Prize, and Jane is a recent recipient of the Charleston-Chichester Award, the only award to recognise longstandingcreativity and achievement in the short story genre.

Praise for the full collection, READER, I MARRIED HIM:‘Dazzling’ DAILY MAIL‘The success of this book owes much to [Chevalier’s] enthusiasm … it’s quite amazing to see the quality of work on show’ EVENING STANDARD‘A terrific set of stories by some of our leading novelists, each of whom engages with a chosen aspect of Jane Eyre’ THE NEW STATESMAN‘A clever idea well-executed; a treat for fans of short fiction and for Brontë's many ardent fans’ KIRKUS REVIEWS‘Exemplary…written by some of today's best female writers’ THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE‘These pieces create a beguiling picture of women and men and desire, in which everyone is searching, like Jane, for happiness and wondering whether marriage is really an answer. The book acts as a prism spreading all kinds of literary and historical refractions, and it’s a reminder that Charlotte Brontë, too, has many sides’ GLOBE AND MAIL