Sherds (“fragments of pottery” or "potsherds") is a 2007 short novel or novelette written by Filipino National Artist for Literature[1] and multi-awarded[2] author F. Sionil José.

According to Elmer A. Ordoñez, a writer from The Manila Times, in Sherds José achieved “lyrical effects”, specially in the novel’s final chapters, by putting into “good use” Joseph Conrad’s and Ford Madox Ford’s so-called progression d’effet (literally "progression of the effect").

[3] The novel, which can be read in one sitting,[4] was described by Li-an de la Cruz-Busto, a reporter for Sun.Star Davao as “very light but candid and insightful”,[5] a description that complements The Manila Times reporter Perry Gil S. Mallari’s calling José’s Sherds as an “easy read and a guaranteed page-turner”.

A novel composed of twelve chapters with a "tight and palpable" narrative pacing, Sherds deals with topics related to "personal conscience, greed and the position of art" in social class struggle, thus serving as a cogitation on "what is wrong" with the Philippines as a nation.

[1] Like José’s other novels and stories such as the Rosales Saga, Sherds is another presentation and “meditation” by the author regarding “class conflict” and “malaise in society” in the Philippines through the use of “non-ideological terms” and sharing of his personal knowledge of the “travails of the original tillers of the soil” and the dispossession of the land-tillers through the workings of the oligarchs.

Golangco, a recognized art scholar abroad and a member of a hacienda-owning clan, was a student, artist, academic, and occasional “sybaritic delights” indulger who decided to return to the Philippines.