Promotional Information

This is the first anthology capacious enough to celebrate the full diversity and energy of its writers, subjects and tones. The most famous authors are here, and many others, including some magnificent stories never republished since their first appearance in magazines and periodicals. The Penguin Book of the British Short Story has a permanent authority, and will be reached for year in and year out. This volume takes the story from the 1920s to the present day.

About the Author

Philip Hensher is the editor of The Penguin Book of the British Short Story (two volumes) and of The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story. His most recent novel is A Small Revolution in Germany.

Reviews

Hensher's anthology is bigger, better and broader in several senses than anything else currently available
*The Spectator*

Almost 100 potent doses of the form which editor Philip Hensher claims very plausibly to be "the richest, most varied and most historically extensive national tradition anywhere in the world"... Hensher has spent a couple of years searching libraries and magazine archives and comes out staggering under a weight of treasures
*Evening Standard*

Like one of the legion of cantankerous, eccentric hosts we meet across this generous terrain, Hensher knows how to lay a grand spread...so enjoy the feast
*The Independent*

Anyone reading this collection just for pleasure should start at the end of the second volume and work backwards...it would quickly bring you to four outstanding stories by women...each of these, though quickly over, leaves a lasting mark in the mind
*The Sunday Times*

Big and clever...three cheers then, for this chunky two-volume anthology, edited by Philip Hensher with imagination and a dash of mischievous wit
*The Times*

Made me shiver with pleasure
*The Financial Times*

Charted a very personal view of the form's development from the early 18th century to the present day'
*Telegraph*

It's been a big year for anthologies and few come bigger than The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. Philip Hensher's introduction is spiky and thought-provoking and Volume I: From Daniel Defoe to John Buchan and Volume II: From P.G. Wodehouse to Zadie Smith (Penguin Classic, £25 each) offer readers the chance to enjoy the varieties and mutations of British stories across four centuries.
*Independent*

In two handsomely designed volumes ... you have to admire Hensher's championing of unfamiliar names alongside established greats
*FT*