This was an interesting little Virago book that lifts the lid on 1960s factory girls in London through a series of short stories. Expect trauma delivered staccato style and sleek characters…
Up the Junction by Nell Dunn (Review)
Under the Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino
This collection of short stories has an interesting history: it was meant to be part of a larger collection of stories, The Five Senses, where each story was connected to…
Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings, edited by Tanya Kirk
This was my final read of 2025, and it was a really enjoyable one. This collection brings together a superb selection of classic ghost stories from writers such as E….
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
First coming out in 1960, I’ve enjoyed hearing about this short story collection on the 1960s Agatha Christie podcast The Swinging Christies, so it made for a great seasonal &…
The Turn of the Screw and Other Stories by Henry James
This collection is a masterclass in psychological ghost stories: elegant, unbeatable in premise, and full of that Jamesian ambiguity. 🔩The Turn of the Screw (1898) A young governess takes a job…
Daisy Miller And Other Stories by Henry James
These stories are the perfect examples of why James is known as the master of the short story. Touching on art, innocence, and creativity, they work well as a collection!…
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq
This International 2025 Booker Prize winner is an interesting milestone: the first ever Kannada-language work to win, it’s also actually the first short story collection to win too….which is amazing,…
Eight Ghosts by eight different authors (English Heritage compilation)
I love reading ghost stories and gothic books in the summer, so this purchase at a castle in Cornwall was the perfect sunny day read. Each story is inspired by…
Local Fires by Joshua Jones
Local Fires by Jones is an entertaining, poignant, and memorable read. There’s something special about reading a collection from a local writer—one who references familiar places and explores overlooked issues….
The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
I am still going through my April reads backlog, but this was one that I wanted to share. I was reading this when I was feeling quite vulnerable in the…
Great Contemporary Short Story Collections From Great Writers
Short stories are an underappreciated literary art form: we should all read more short stories! They often get neglected as they are not seen as marketable as novels, but these…
Married Love by Tessa Hadley
I love Tessa Hadley. Recently, I did a bit of research into what people were saying about her as a writer. It seems others have noticed that while prose is…
After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley
I love the confessional and documentarian style of Hadley. It’s precise, intelligent, and never frivolous. Her style shines through in these short stories where she really gets to the heart…
The Travelling Bag and Other Ghostly Stories by Susan Hill (Review)
A collection of five spooky short stories from the master of classic horror with a contemporary twist, I loved the different themes Hill gets into in this collection. You may…
The Rise by Ian Rankin
Another audiobook. Can you believe I only did my first audiobook read a few months ago? It’s definitely a nice way to mix things up. This is a short novella…
Murder at Christmas murder mystery collection ed. Cecily Gayford
Classic crime fiction writers’ stories collected into one festive edition, each story with a slightly different take on the festive murder. The authors featured are the likes of Dorothy L…
Hardboiled, Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto
Two beautiful stories in one! What a great double bill. These tender stories are about grief, love, and connection. The first one is about a woman’s meditative and supernatural night…
My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood
This was actually a bit of fun! A novella/short story by Atwood about the funny yet sinister suburban mum who is documented through her daughter’s eyes. It’s great to see…
Sleep No More by P.D James
A great collection of six short stories from a master crime writer! I’m an avid short story reader, but these murderous tales are especially good. There’s just something about a…
Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine
Short stories: yay or nay? This is my second collection of short stories from Wendy Erskine and I’m hooked. (This is her first collection, but I started with her 2nd…