Sybilla, a novella composed of interlinked flash-fiction stories, has won the 2021 National Flash Fiction Day Award.
Set in a second-hand bookshop in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, Sybilla is a story of separation, betrayal, and ultimately, the power of love.
The competition was judged by Sophie van Llewyn, author of Bottled Goods, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019:
"A wall, a city divided, lives impacted in so many different ways. This novella-in-flash is a little gem. While the story focuses primarily on Felix, the owner of a bookshop that sells reconditioned books, and Lara, his employee, we also see how the wall impacts the lives of so many people. Underneath the seamless storytelling, I could truly see the rigorous editing – while the story moves forward at a great pace, everything is tight, and pulled together. Not a single secondary character is superfluous. And I do love a good love story!"