Stories for Summer: And Days by the Pool

by Simon Thomas (Editor)

Join a host of female writers in celebrating the sunshine months of the year. As a sister volume to Stories for Winter, this collection of 15 short stories takes its inspiration from the holiday season. Grab a copy as you head off to the beach or to lie by the pool and spend time with female protagonists as they navigate life during the hot summer days and long balmy evenings. In keeping with the spirit of the Women Writers series, the stories are penned by authors whose writing originally appeared in books and magazines in the twentieth century.

Launched in 2020, the British Library Women Writers series is a curated collection of novels and anthologies by female authors who enjoyed broad, popular appeal in their day. In a century during which the role of women in society changed radically, their fictional heroines highlight women's experience of life inside and outside the home through the decades in these rich, insightful and evocative stories.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, British Literature, Summer

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2024

Reviews

[Gina House · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟 This is my favorite British Library Women Writers collection so far! I really enjoyed Stories for Christmas and Stories for Winter, but this one beat both of those hands down—for me, anyway!

Although I thought I would love the seasonal tales by Elizabeth Taylor, Daphne du Maurier and Sylvia Townsend Warner the best, I found that I was completely wrong—it was very surprising!

My top favorite titles in this warm, summery and absolutely wonderful book included:

☀️Black Cat for Luck by G.B. Stern
☀️The Fortune Teller by Muriel Spark
☀️Men Friends by Angela Huth
☀️The Shark's Fin by Phyllis Bottome

Every inclusion in this brilliant collection by Simon Thomas have the perfect summery vibe. I could feel the blazing rays of sunshine, smell the damp, salty sea air; hear the gulls squawking and the insects buzzing and, most of all, see in my mind's eye each story being played out as I read.

It was a fantastically fun reading experience and the perfect choice for July. I love that the British Library Women Writers books make me read out of my comfort zone (though in my favorite time period). I've found so many new authors to love!

I'll be on the hunt for more books by the authors mentioned above. If you're searching for the best book to read this summer, THIS IS IT! Highly recommended for a light, lovely and entertaining read 🤩

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A companion novel to "Stories for Winter" (which I enjoyed more), this collection of 20th-century short stories by women, ranging from 1918 to 1997, concerns stories of people on summer holiday. The introduction is a chronological summary of each story as they appear in the book giving the date they were first published, sometimes where and tidbits of information on the author. It's a bit awkward placed here as the reader does not want to read through a summary of all the stories. So I read them a bit before each appropriate story, uncomfortably flipping back and forth, but it works. The older stories were my favourite. Most of the authors were already known to me and I'm pretty sure I'd read one before. Overall, I'm giving the collection a 3 based on the quality of the stories and the presentation. They are a well-curated selection that reads together nicely. I always recommend reading one story a day from anthologies.

Synapses are spoiler-free

1. Carnation by Katherine Mansfield (1918) - It’s an unbearably hot day, and in French class, M. Hugo has paused the lessons to bring out the poetry book. With his dramatic readings, he usually has the girls in fits of laughter, but our main character, Katie, is a dreamer who doesn’t quite grasp the French language yet. Today marks a turning point for her as she notices the opposite sex. As she listens to a man washing a carriage and then a horse, she catches glimpses of him. Her imagination runs wild, envisioning his bare chest glistening in the sunlight, water sparkling as it flows, perfectly synchronised with the rhythm of M. Hugo’s poem. (3/5)

2. Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf (1919) - Various people stroll through Kew Gardens, noticing a flower or two, and we catch a phrase or two of their conversation. A piece that celebrates Kew Gardens. (3/5)

3. Requiescat by Elizabeth Bowen (1923) - A widow is in Italy at the villa her late husband bought for her, reviewing papers that need signing and going through. His best friend arrives whom they hadn't seen in quite some while. Tension runs deep. She is trying to turn the conversation to why he stepped out of the threesome relationship. He is holding back, never to say, letting her widowhood end on a happy note about her husband. The ending is for the reader to decide. Very gloomy and Gothic. Atmospheric. (4/5)

4. Exile by Sylvia Lynda (1925) - A man is spending some time in Florence and finds some other Brits. Mrs Alladale, a society lady in London, is there and she comes up to him all smiles and friendly like when he usually gets the formal greeting from her at functions. She's so pleased to see him she invites him to her place sometime and asks when. He accepts for tomorrow. This is a sad story that starts pleasantly and gradually changes tone until we feel sorry for the side character who has turned into the main character. Well-told tale. It's reminiscent of other stories I've read from the same period, and later, when Brits went travelling and ended up congregating together. Brings about the feels of a different era. (4/5)

5. Black Cat for Luck by GB Stern (1933) - A man of limíted means is asked to a luncheon on the spur of the moment to make up for a cancellation. He's a superstitious man, and today was supposed to be his lucky day, so he starts acting towards the diplomatic and rich personages present as if he's one of them. He's offered a ride and gives an upperclass address from here forward a series of farcical events lead him to either ruin or glory. A much longer story than íthers so far with much more depth of character. Funny and a fun look at the aristocratic life of the times. (4/5)

6. The Sand Castle by Mary Lavin (1945) - This is a children's story which I can imagine appearing in a "Girl's Own" magazine or similar and tells of a day at the beach of three siblings and their off-page, mostly, nurse as they play and squabble. A nostalgic story for many. (3/5)

7. The Shark's Fin by Phyllis Bottome (1948) - A young wife on her Caribbean honeymoon gets very angry when her husband goes to an island just a mile away without her. She decides to swim out there to teach him a lesson. She's an annoying kind of babyish character, so I didn't mind the horrifying ending too much. (4/5)

8. The Lovely Evening by Mar Norton (????) - A woman, her teen daughter, and her friend have a poor man's vacation in Italy. They are dining in a room which eventually turns into the dance room and the teens are eager to dance. A young man comes up to the mother and asks her to dance. She startles but súggests one of the signoritas. He picks up her daughter and they dance. This was a cute "Good for her" for the mother. (4/5)

9. The Pool by Daphne du Maurier - Dorothy and Roger spend the summers at Grandma's. Roger is a hands-on type of guy, building, sports, that sort of thing, while Dorothy is more one with nature. She can spend hours reading or staring at flowers. She's been staring into the pond, which they call The Pool, and one night she sneaks out to visit and finds it very different. A fun bit of malevolent fantasy, (4/5)

10. In a Different Light by Elizabeth Taylor (1961) - Her sister, living on an island in Greece, is widowed, and Barbara visits Jane. After arriving, they meet Roland, who has just arrived for the dream vacation of his life. Roland and Barbara spend time on excursions while Jane siestas. The three of them spend evenings together. Barbara and Roland are beginning to not want to go back home; Barbara admits to missing her children less as time goes by. Will they each go back home to their families? An entertaining story, but not one of my favourites. (3/5)

11. In and Out of Never-Never-Land by Maeve Brennen (1963) - Mary Ann lives in a groundskeeper's house and cherishes it. She has a black Labrador who is ageing and spends his life between her house and the seven children who live in the big house on the hill. This is a quaint story, well told. (3/5)

12. Afternoon in Summer by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1972) - A young married couple in the country for the summer decide to bike up to a pub some way down the road. When q¹ get there hot and thirsty, they find it not open for tea and have to wait an hour and a half for it to open, so they journey ¹ on looking for a church, and there they start their afternoon adventure. I enjoyed the writing on this and it's piqued my interest in trying the author again. (4/5)

13. The Fortune Teller by Miriel Spark (1983) - Lucy joins her friends, a married couple having problems, in France. Her fortune-teller abilities are always a hit in social situations. ĢhĥAfter reconnecting with the continental big-hearted cheek-to-cheek kisses, it's another bohemian couple that catches Lucy's attention. (4/5)

14. Men Friends by Angels Huth (1997) - A stunning woman in her late thirties, married to an 80-year-old man, dies of cancer, and all her lovers, unknown to her husband, think about the vivacious, trustworthy woman. This is darkly comic and well written. (4/5)

[maven · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an awful selection of stories, given the title of this book! Some don't take place in summer or have any sense of being related to the season. Several are pretty grim or depressing. And way too many about children. A few of these stories were fairly recently published in collections from other publishers, and without the numerous typos in this book.

[Iulia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

This anthology was such a delight! Great writing, fantastic summery atmosphere & sense of place depicted in most of these stories.

Not a single dud (though Sylvia Townsend Warner’s came close, mainly because it kinda ended very abruptly); two stories were known to me (Daphne du Maurier’s “The Pool” and Virginia Woolf’s “Kew Gardens” - both very good!). Favourites:

“Black Cat for Luck” - G. B. Stern
“The Shark’s Fin” - Phyllis Bottome
“The Lovely Evening” - Mary Norton
“In a Different Light” - Elizabeth Taylor
“In and Out of Never-Never Land” - Maeve Brennan
“The Fortune Teller” - Muriel Spark

[JacquiWine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the past few years, the British Library has continued to develop its excellent Women Writers series, reissuing lesser-known novels by female authors from the 20th century for modern-day readers to enjoy. Alongside these novels, the series includes a handful of carefully curated anthologies, one of which, Stories for Summer and Days by the Pool, I’m reviewing here.

Overall, this is an evocative collection of summer-themed stories, full of heady, sunny days, warm sultry nights and the powerful feelings these conditions tend to evoke. As the heat rises, jealousies swirl, passions are stirred and repressed emotions begin to resurface. Here we have stories of holiday romance, coming-of-age, changes in destiny and relationships under strain.

Occasionally, these sorts of collections can be somewhat uneven, with a few slighter stories lurking between the gems. In this instance, however, all fourteen stories are well worth your time, while four entries – those by Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, Daphne du Maurier and Muriel Spark – are very good indeed.

The book is also beautifully produced – the literary equivalent of a box of chocolates, featuring perennial favourites, new discoveries and the occasional left-field choice. With contributions from critically acclaimed writers such as Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor and Sylvia Townsend Warner to lesser-known contemporaries including Sylvia Lynd, Phyllis Bottome and Mary Lavin, this delightful anthology showcases tales in a range of styles – from evocative sketches to poignant encounters and partings to creepy, atmospheric stories that linger in the mind. Inevitably, different stories will resonate with different readers, depending on their tastes, but there really does appear to be something for almost everyone here! As in reviews of other anthologies and short story collections, I’ll focus on some of my favourites to give you a flavour of the highlights.

The collection opens with Katherine Mansfield’s Carnation, a brief, evocative sketch with sexual undertones, which takes place in a girls’ school. Mansfield uses imagery very effectively here, leaving the symbolism open to interpretation by the reader as her story unfurls.

She bought a carnation to the French class, a deep, deep red one, that looked as though it had been dipped in wine and left in the dark to dry. (p. 1)

Flowers also make an appearance in Virginia Woolf’s equally evocative story Kew Gardens, a short sketch in which a couple’s emotional history is briefly illuminated by glimpses of their past.

The petals were voluminous enough to be stirred by the summer breeze, and when they moved, the red, blue and yellow lights past one over the other, staining an inch of the brown earth beneath with a spot of the most intricate colour. (p. 5)

In Elizabeth Bowen’s Requiescat, one of my favourites from this collection, Stuart has come to Italy to see the recently widowed Mrs Majendie, who was married to his friend, Howard. As this subtly devastating story unfolds, Bowen reveals the true nature of Stuart’s feelings for Mrs Majendie, hinting at what might have been if their paths had taken the same turn.

She was less beautiful than he had remembered her, and very tall and thin in her black dress. Her composure did not astonish him; her smile, undimmed, and the sound of her voice recalled to him the poignancy of his feelings when he had first known her, his resentment and sense of defeat—she had possessed herself of Howard so entirely. She was shortsighted, there was always a look of uncertainty in her eyes until she came quite near one, her big pupils seemed to see too much at once and nothing very plainly. (p. 14)

This excellent, exquisitely written story quivers with the latent energy of emotions long suppressed, all played out against the beauty of an Italian garden resplendent in summer.

Tentative relationships of a different kind can be found in Elizabeth Taylor’s excellent story In a Different Light, in which a married, middle-aged woman, Barbara, travels alone to a Greek island, ostensibly to comfort her recently widowed sister, Jane. While Barbara believes there is nothing left for her sister in Greece, Jane seems determined to stay, irreverently dismissing any practical concerns.

During her trip, Barbara becomes friendly with Roland, a married architect from Hampstead, holidaying by himself on the island. Nothing sexual or romantic happens between the pair as they spend their afternoons together exploring the island’s quiet charms. Nevertheless, away from the familiar, mundane routines of their daily lives back in the UK, Barbara and Roland form an unlikely attachment to one another, a bond that leaves both parties somewhat unsettled and changed by the experience.

Where this story really excels, though, is in the final pages when Roland and his rather dreadful wife, Iris, visit Barbara’s family for Sunday lunch. It is here that Taylor reveals the sadness of Roland’s life, an emptiness and lack of fulfilment that have coloured his world.

To read the rest of my review, please visit:

https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025...

[Sipz and Storiez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great addition to the British Library Women Writers series. Not only is this series aesthetically pleasing (I love all of the silhouettes of women on the covers), but the stories are fantastic. This collection has stories set in the summertime by great authors such as Virginia Woolf, Daphne du Maurier, and Muriel Spark. It also includes an excellent introduction to give context to the authors and the time period. For instance, I was surprised to learn that Mary Norton, who is famous for children's books like "The Borrowers" and "Bed-Knob(s) and Broomstick(s)," also wrote stories for adults. I particularly enjoyed Norton's story "The Lovely Evening," about a group of women on holiday in Italy. I also liked "In a Different Light," by Elizabeth Taylor, which is set in Greece, and I now want to track down more books by Taylor. The perfect summer collection for fans of women writers from the turn of the century.

[Karen Mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full on Summer vibes with this perfectly curated collection of short stories!! I took full advantage of a lovely sunny day to sit out and soak up the rays of sunshine both from the sky and from the pages of this book!

15 short stories are in this collection, and many of the authors I'd never heard of so it has been a lovely introduction to their work and has led me to search out some of their work as I enjoyed their styles of writing! Plus it was also lovely to read more well known authors and see their spin on the summer feeling, be it through holidays, siblings, family drama or a love story! A nice book to dip in and out of!

[Jo Everett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't normally read short story collections, preferring instead the immersion of long-form narrative storytelling. This was passed to me though so I thought I would give it a try. I liked the arrangement of the stories in type, for example it starts with a few stories from Modernist writers, and there are some next to each other that cover similar topics. Certainly, some of the stories really moved me and will stay in my mind, such as 'The Sharks Fin' and 'The Pool'.

One criticism is that I found a number of typos in this edition, as if they had been typed out and not thoroughly proof-read.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Overall, a very nice collection. The writing was gorgeous throughout and there was a nice variety of different types of stories. I especially enjoyed “The Shark’s Fin” by Phyllis Bottome—a surprisingly effective piece of suspense; “Black Cat for Luck” by G. B. Stern—a nice touch of humor; “The Sand Castle” by Mary Lavin and “The Pool” by Daphne Du Maurier— both for their depictions of sibling rivalries: and “The Lovely Evening” by Mary Norton— an unexpected little love story in miniature.

[Julia Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another varied and absorbing collection from Simon Thomas.
I like the flower motif that tied the stories together and the introduction to authors previously unread or only known for another genre.
My particular favourite was Angeka Huth.
Every story represented, in a different form, a story for a summer. Sultry, playful, suffocating, stormy and hot.

[Anne Caverhill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nope, not Nancy Thayer nor Elin Hildebrand but instead a glimpse of summer life over a century ago, with a collection of short stories that offer the same sunshine but with the restrained noblesse of the British. It has a quiet reminder of how much cultural expectations have changed. Somewhat.

[Stephanie Miceli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag of summer themed short stories.

[Maureen Tripp · Rating 4 out of 5]

summery

[Damien · Rating 4 out of 5]

series of stories from a lot a really good writers, you might be surprised by which stories you like more than others.