Stories

This wide-ranging collection of the stories by the renowned Nobel Laureate-spanning more than two decades of her astonishing career-highlights her singular gifts for portraying the complex lives of men and women in a modern, often alienating world.

Included are seminal stories like "To Room Nineteen," in which a woman reacts against the oppression of her banal marriage with dreadful results; "One off the Short List," which traces the surprising conclusion to a seduction gone awry; "The Habit of Loving," in which a lonely older man who takes a vivacious, young wife witnesses an unexpected reversal of intimacy. Here are two classic novellas as well: The Temptation of Jack Orkney and The Other Woman, which exemplify Lessing's grasp of the most essential human psychology. Rich and various in mood and background-the settings range across England and France-these stories powerfully convey the uncompromising insight, intelligence, and vision of one of the most ardently admired writers of our time.

Introduction by Margaret Drabble
Select Bibliography
Chronology

The Habit of Loving
The Woman
Through the Tunnel
Pleasure
The Witness
The Day Stalin Died
Wine
He
The Eye of God in Paradise
The Other Woman
One off the Short List
A Woman on a Roof
How I Finally Lost My Heart
A Man and Two Women
A Room
England versus England
Two Potters
Between Men
Our Friend Judith
Each Other
Homage for Isaac Babel
Outside the Ministry
Dialogue
Notes for a Case History
An Old Woman and Her Cat
Side Benefits of an Honourable Profession
A Year in Regent's Park
Report on the Threatened City
Mrs Fortescue
An Unposted Love Letter
Lions, Leaves, Roses
Not a Very Nice Story
The Other Garden
The Temptation of Jack Orkney