Stories

This wide-ranging collection of stories by the renowned Nobel Laureate - spanning more than two decades of her 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, and "One off the Short List," which traces the surprising conclusion to a seduction gone awry. In "The Habit of Loving," a lonely older man who takes a vivacious young wife witnesses an unexpected reversal of intimacy. Here also are two classic novellas, The Temptation of Jack Orkney and The Other Woman, exemplifying Lessing's impressive understanding of her characters' psychology.… (more)