The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen

Widely known for her much-admired novels, includingThe Heat of the Day,The House in Paris, andThe Death of the Heart, Elizabeth Bowen established herself in the front rank of the century's writers equally through her short fiction. This collection brings together seventy-nine magnificent stories written over the course of four decades. Vividly featuring scenes of bomb-scarred London during the Blitz, frustrated lovers, acutely obcerved children, and even vengeful ghosts, these stories reinforce Bowen's reputation as an artist whose finely chiseled narrativesrich in imagination, psychological insight, and crafttranscend their time and place.

Elizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin in 1899, the only child of an Irish lawyer and landowner. Her book Bowen's Court (1942) is the history of her family and their house, in County Cork. Throughout her life, she divided her time between London and Bowen's Court, which she inherited. She wrote many acclaimed novels and short story collections, was awarded the CBE in 1948, and was made a Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1965. She died in 1973.