Party Girl

A short story by Nadifa Mohamed from the collection Reader, I Married Him: Stories inspired by Jane Eyre.

In ‘Party Girl’, ahead of settling down, a woman looks back on her rebellious youth.

Edited by Tracy Chevalier, the full collection, Reader I Married Him, brings together some of the finest and most creative voices in fiction today, to celebrate and salute the strength and lasting relevance of Charlotte Brontë’s game-changing novel and its beloved narrator.

Reviews

Praise for the full collection, READER, I MARRIED HIM:

‘Dazzling’ DAILY MAIL

‘The success of this book owes much to [Chevalier’s] enthusiasm … it’s quite amazing to see the quality of work on show’ EVENING STANDARD

‘A terrific set of stories by some of our leading novelists, each of whom engages with a chosen aspect of Jane Eyre’ THE NEW STATESMAN

‘A clever idea well-executed; a treat for fans of short fiction and for Brontë's many ardent fans’ KIRKUS REVIEWS

‘Exemplary…written by some of today's best female writers’ THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

‘These pieces create a beguiling picture of women and men and desire, in which everyone is searching, like Jane, for happiness and wondering whether marriage is really an answer. The book acts as a prism spreading all kinds of literary and historical refractions, and it’s a reminder that Charlotte Brontë, too, has many sides’ GLOBE AND MAIL

About the author

Nadifa Mohamed was born in Hargeisa in 1981. Her first
novel, Black Mamba Boy, won the Betty Trask Prize, was
longlisted for the Orange Prize, and was shortlisted for the
Guardian First Book Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize,
the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the PEN Open Book Award.
In 2013 she was selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young
British Novelists. Her second novel, The Orchard of Lost
Souls, was published in 2013 and won a Somerset Maugham
Prize; it was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and
shortlisted for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.