Among the distinguished writers featured in this superb collection of classic short stories are Djuna Barnes, Willa Cather, Grace Paley, Elizabeth Taylor, Rebecca West, Antonia White, and Edith Wharton. Variously audacious, lyrical, and piquant, their work explores the joys and blunted edges of love affairs, marriages, and the ambitions and regrets that haunt even commonplace moments.