This wide-ranging collection of the stories by the renowned Nobel Laureate-spanning more than two decades of her astonishing career-highlights her singular gifts for portraying the complex lives of men and women in a modern, often alienating world.

Included are seminal stories like To Room Nineteen, in which a woman reacts against the oppression of her banal marriage with dreadful results;
One off the Short List, which traces the surprising conclusion to a seduction gone awry; The Habit of Loving, in which a lonely older man who takes a vivacious, young wife witnesses an unexpected reversal of intimacy. Here are two classic novellas as well: The Temptation of Jack Orkney and The Other Woman, which exemplify Lessing’s grasp of the most essential human psychology. Rich and various in mood and background-the settings range across England and France-these stories powerfully convey the uncompromising insight, intelligence, and vision of one of the most ardently admired writers of our time.