Stories for Winter: And Nights by the Fire (British Library Women Writers)

‘This is, after all, the season of abandonment, of the suspension of vitality, a long cessation of vigour in which we must cultivate our stoicism. Everything had put on the desolate smile of winter.’ 

Curl up with Stories for Winter, a collection of seasonal tales to sustain you through the long, dark evenings. Originally written and first published in the twentieth century, the fourteen stories in this new anthology bring together the creative minds of Angela Carter, Edith Wharton, Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Berridge, Shirley Jackson, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Elizabeth Taylor, Mary Angela Dickens, Elizabeth Bowen and Kate Roberts. 

A woman waits for her lover across a flooded landscape; another braves a snowstorm for a stranger; while a young girl’s unseasonal visit to the seaside ends in a shattering revelation. Exploring themes of loss and loneliness, resilience and renewal, this collection brings together many renowned female writers of the short-story form. In the spirit of the Women Writers series, these stories first appeared in books and periodicals in the twentieth century.

Series consultant Simon Thomas created the middlebrow blog Stuck in a Book in 2007. He is also the co-host of the popular podcast Tea or Books? Simon has a PhD from Oxford University in Interwar Literature.