Book 1

Bliss

by Katherine Mansfield

Published 19 May 1988
'Although Bertha Young was thirty she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to bowl a hoop, to throw something up in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at - nothing - at nothing, simply.'

Katherine Mansfield's perceptive and resonant writing helped to define the modern short story, observing apparently trivial incidents to create quietly devastating revelations of inner lives. In these three tales, aglow with light and colour, Mansfield describes an exultant epiphany, fading memories and the unspoken, half-understood emotions that make up everyday existence.

This book includes Bliss, The Daughters of the Late Colonel and The Doll's House.