Eclectic, entertaining ... almost all British, if not human, life is here' Boyd Tonkin, Independent

'Mind-stretching, heart-breaking, beautifully-crafted fiction' Claire Harman, Evening Standard

'She would tear the house down - shatter the windows, slash the furniture, flood the baths, fire the curtains!'

Hilarious, exuberant, surreal, subtle, tender, brutal, spectacular and above all unexpected: this extraordinary selection celebrates the British short story from the 1920s to the present day. From Angela Carter to V. S. Pritchett, Elizabeth Taylor to J. G. Ballard, Ali Smith to a host of little-known works from magazines and periodicals, and including tales of air-raids, phone sex, snobbery, modern-day slavery, grief, desire, the familiar and the strange, here is the short story in all its limitless possibilities.

Edited and with an introduction by Philip Hensher, the award-winning novelist, critic and journalist.