An artist who excelled at the expression of subtle details and concentrated emotion, Katherine Mansfield ranks among the twentieth century’s greatest short story writers. Her elegant, ironic tales reflect her own bohemian lifestyle, which involved tempestuous relationships with Bertrand Russell and Virginia Woolf. This collection of a dozen of Mansfield’s finest works features compelling tales of fraught relationships and shattering revelations, all recounted in an intensely visual and impressionistic style. These stories range from throughout Mansfield’s brief but prolific career. They include
Prelude,
a reminiscence of the author’s New Zealand girlhood;
Bliss,
involving a young mother’s disillusionment;
Je Ne Parle Pas Francais,
concerning a romantic young woman’s betrayal; and
The Garden Party,
a contrast of snobbery and social responsibility.