The Second Persephone Book of Short Stories

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) about an unmarried woman whose life is changed by a magnificent quilt, Miss Anstruther's Letters by Rose Macauley (1942) about a woman looking for her writing in the ruins of her bombed house, Sunday Morning by Dorothy Whipple (1961) about a love triangle and some very important curtains, 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.