The centrepiece of a mammoth series of budget collections, this modest-looking little volume contains some eighteen classic stories which glow discreetly like the pearls in an exquisitely understated necklace. From Katharine Mansfield's acerbic "The Garden Party" to Elizabeth Bowen's sinister "The Demon Lover", from Edith Wharton's expansive "Souls Belated" to Aesop's miniature "The Middle Aged Man and his Mistresses", there's not one piece here which is anything less than perfect. Some will quibble with the inclusion of the two verse narratives, Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" and Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott", but their galloping rhythms dilute the intensity of the prose, which is perhaps no bad thing. Further volumes in this attractive series are devoted to the stories of "Saki", Jack London, D.H. Lawrence, Kate Chopin and Wilkie Collins.
