In Something Wonderful, a debut collection of nine compact stories that all take place in the Welsh countryside, Jo Lloyd captures moments in history through fleeting but rich instances of intimacy. In "Butterflies of the Balkans," two women go to adventurous lengths to pursue the ephemeral beauty of rare butterflies in the lead-up to World War II. "My Bonny" is the story of a widow raising her child following her husband's death at sea, told through the perspectives of various family and community members. In "Deep Shelter," a son grapples with the memories of his estranged and eccentric father in the aftermath of losing a gift from him in a bomb shelter.
Lloyd's crisp, clear-eyed prose manages to avoid too much sentimentality while still conveying the deeply felt reality of circumstances that are often hard to imagine. Although each story is written with an eye toward realism, the atmosphere and Lloyd's impeccable scene-setting often lean toward the gothic and fairytale-esque, in order to bring a sense of wonder to each piece. Nevertheless, grounded characters and emotions remain at each story's core. For example, "The Invisible," which focuses on a tight-knit community's imaginings of some nearby but elusive upper-class residents, uses its more abstract plot elements only as a means through which to convey emotional resonance. A meditative literary debut, Something Wonderful demonstrates how the magnificence of everyday relations continue to transform, even in the face of some of humanity's darkest and most cataclysmic moments. --Alice Martin, freelance writer and editor