Soak up the best in original fiction

Soak up the best in original fiction

t's time for our summer short story special. So sit back, relax and soak up the best in original fiction from five established writers, plus the winner of our short-story competition and five runners up

For all those eagerly awaiting a sequel to Wolf Hall, here's something to keep you going. This year's Guardian Weekend fiction special includes a new story by Hilary Mantel, following two girls from very different backgrounds during one oppressively hot summer. She's joined by the likes of David Mitchell, who has left the 18th-century Japan of his latest novel, The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet, to revisit the fictional world of Black Swan Green; and Barbara Trapido, whose heroine befriends an intriguing nuisance neighbour.