The Cotton Lass and Other Stories
Anna Jacobs’ collection of short stories, The Cotton Lass, focuses on how ordinary people take on the challenge of a new life. The author covers various genres, including historical fiction, fantasy and romance. There is a strong theme about Australia that covers several time periods. It was particularly interesting to see how the author used this theme in different times, for the characters that she creates go through the same emotional reactions in their time of change. Throughout these tales, there is always a strong romantic aspect. Jacobs uses this to deepen her characters’ personalities, their hopes and their dreams. She writes at a steady pace given the restrictions of a short story collection, giving enough time for the reader to enjoy the sense of time and place of the story before it ends. At the start of each short story, she includes an introduction that explains why and how she wrote the story. This makes each story more personal to the reader, which in turn brings us closer to the characters and their worlds. Overall, Jacobs’ collection is a heart-warming anthology that is accessible to all.
