Joanna Campbell won our Tenth Anniversary Novella-in-Flash Award with her historical novella set in bookshop next to the Wall in West Berlin, and we are thrilled to announce that Sybilla is now officially on sale at the NFFD Bookshop.
All of us at National Flash Fiction Day love this masterclass in the novella-in-flash form, but you don't have to take our word for it. Here's what others had to say about Sybilla:
This novella-in-flash is a little gem … seamless storytelling.
— Sophie van Llewyn, Novella-in-Flash judge and author of Bottled Good
Beautifully written, atmospheric, and impeccably paced this is a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time. Campbell is a master of the form.
— Angela Readman, author of The Girls are Pretty Crocodiles
Here are some ways you can find out more about Sybilla:
- Buy your copy of Sybilla from the NFFD Bookshop
- Read our Q&A with author Joanna Campbell
- Listen to Joanna read selections from Sybilla on our YouTube channel
- Read the Judge's Report for Novella-in-Flash Competition here
Finally, to whet your appetite, we'll leave you with a little taste of what it's all about....
One August morning, the people of West Berlin wake to find their world divided. In the shadow of the Wall, Lara works in a bookshop where customers come and go, bringing regular news about loved ones trapped on the other side. Some strive to maintain connections via telephone and letters, while others plan a more desperate course of action. When a thunderstorm looms over the bookshop, a new customer takes shelter, bringing with him a story that Lara cannot ignore.
Sybilla is a story of separation, betrayal, and ultimately, the power of love.
Joanna Campbell is a full-time writer from the Cotswolds. Her short stories have won first place in the Exeter Writers competition, the Bath Short Story Award Local Prize, the London Short Story Prize, the Magic Oxygen Literary Prize and the Retreat West Short Story Prize.
Joanna’s flash-fiction won second place in the 2017 Bridport Prize, for which her short stories have been shortlisted many times.
Her novella-in-flash, A Safer Way to Fall, was a runner-up in the inaugural Bath Flash Fiction Award and published in How To Make A Window Snake (Ad Hoc Fiction). Her short story collection, When Planets Slip Their Tracks was shortlisted for the Rubery International Book Award and longlisted for the Edge Hill University Prize.
Her novel, Instructions for the Working Day, will be published in August 2022 (Fairlight Books).