The Second Persephone Book of Short Stories

by Persephone Books

Persephone book no:

131 132 133

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Reprinting

Quantity

416pp
ISBN 9781910263228

The first Persephone Book of Short Stories (PB no. 100) celebrated our one hundredth book; The Second Persephone Book of Short Stories (PB no. 132) celebrated twenty years of publishing in 2019, and we hope that it brings the same pleasure to thousands of readers.

Again, there are thirty stories, spanning nearly a century (from 1896–1984) and presented in the order they were written. A quarter are by North American women writers.

Some of the short stories featured in this collection include "The Bedquilt' by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1906), "The Casualty List" by Winifred Holtby (1932), "Miss Anstruther's Letters" by Rose Macauley (1942), "Year of Decision" by Mollie Panter-Downes (1944), "Sunday Morning" by Dorothy Whipple (1961), and "Gilbert" by Rosamunde Pilcher (1984), after whom the Persephone office dog is partly named.

Endpaper

The front endpaper (above) is 'Tiger Lily', 1986 by Lindsay Butterfield for GP & J Baker. The back endpaper is 'Havana', a screen-printed cotton fabric design by Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell for Fischbacher Ltd. © V&A Images.

Picture Caption

Roger Fry, 'Lady Seated in an Omega Interior', date unknown.

Read What Readers Say

Northern Reader (blogger)

Some stories in ‘The Second Persephone Book of Short Stories’ have been featured in Persephone’s own twice-yearly magazine, others have been more difficult to access. As always the distinctive grey cover of this book distinguishes it as one of an excellent series; a well produced and attractive book which would be a wonderful gift. Some stories are tragic, but others are inspiring and even humorous. Many are clever, and have much to say about women’s lives at the time when they were written. The essence of this book is to give a short insight into a life, either over a long period or a very brief glimpse of an incident. Short stories can be an acquired taste, but they have the advantage of offering something for everyone’s taste in a book like this of diverse authors. This is the second book of short stories that Persephone has published, and either one is to be recommended as offering an impressive selection of tasters of women authors who had something to say in the twentieth century, or to demonstrate the power of fiction in lives affected by change and challenges.

Categories: Short Stories