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The Oxford Book of English Love Stories
Adulterous love, marital love, virginal love, religious devotion, agape, lust, there are an infinite variety of meanings that can be packed into the four letters that spell love, and writers of fiction have been trying for centuries to plumb its depths. We turn to literature in large
part to learn what love is and what it should be. Here, The Oxford Book of English Love Stories , offers consolation and inspiration in equal measure from some of the sharpest observers of this most essential human emotion.
From the bittersweet ending of Trollope's "The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne;" to the intricate rituals of courtship in Sylvia Plath's "Stone Boy with Dolphin;" to Paul Theroux's sardonic study of innocence in "An English Unofficial Rose," this collection is a looking glass into the many
moods of love. John Sutherland has selected twenty-eight original works that best represent the rich and varied nature of love. There are stories by Mary Shelley, W. M. Thackeray, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, John Galsworthy, Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene, and many others. The Oxford Book of English
Love Stories brings a delightful perspective to the mysteries of love.
part to learn what love is and what it should be. Here, The Oxford Book of English Love Stories , offers consolation and inspiration in equal measure from some of the sharpest observers of this most essential human emotion.
From the bittersweet ending of Trollope's "The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne;" to the intricate rituals of courtship in Sylvia Plath's "Stone Boy with Dolphin;" to Paul Theroux's sardonic study of innocence in "An English Unofficial Rose," this collection is a looking glass into the many
moods of love. John Sutherland has selected twenty-eight original works that best represent the rich and varied nature of love. There are stories by Mary Shelley, W. M. Thackeray, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, John Galsworthy, Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene, and many others. The Oxford Book of English
Love Stories brings a delightful perspective to the mysteries of love.
- GenresShort StoriesAnthologies
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
John Sutherland
254 books195 followersJohn Andrew Sutherland is a British academic, newspaper columnist and author. He is Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 17, 2025
John Sutherland’s The Oxford Book of English Love Stories is one of those rare anthologies where “love” is less a theme and more a contested territory—something fought over, disguised, distorted, sanctified, trivialised, or spiritually expanded depending on who holds the pen.
For a reader who is drawn to psychological depth, emotional ambiguity, and the subtle architecture of human relationships across historical periods, this volume becomes not merely an anthology but a curated emotional atlas.
Unlike most collections that equate love with romance, Sutherland understands that the English literary tradition has always treated love as a battlefield of class anxiety, moral restraint, desire’s absurdity, and emotional repression.
His editorial vision is not saccharine; it is anthropological. He assembles stories that challenge the reader’s assumptions—stories where love is unspoken but omnipresent, or spoken too loudly and therefore hollow; where desire disturbs social order; where affection survives war, trauma, disappointment, or the passage of time.
One of the book’s great strengths is its temporal sweep. You move from the late 19th century to the present, watching the English emotional landscape transform: Victorian propriety breaking into Edwardian wistfulness, then fracturing into modernist disillusionment, post-war cynicism, and late-20th-century experimentation.
This shifting emotional climate is something you will appreciate.
The early stories are especially rich for readers attuned to nuance. They revolve around restraint—people unable to say what they feel, or unable to understand their own feelings until it’s too late. This tension between desire and decorum evokes the societal structures that shaped English courtship, and Sutherland’s selections highlight how love in that era was always shadowed by fear: fear of scandal, fear of impropriety, fear of making oneself emotionally legible.
Contrast that with the modern stories, where love is almost embarrassingly direct—yet fragmented, self-aware, ironised. Postmodernism turns love into a language game, one you will enjoy deciphering. Some writers undercut romantic expectations entirely, presenting relationships as fleeting transactions or existential negotiations.
Sutherland’s curation is most powerful in the way stories speak to each other. A Victorian tale of doomed lovers might be followed by a sardonic twentieth-century piece that dismantles the same romantic trope with surgical cruelty.
This counterpoint structure allows themes to emerge organically: miscommunication, sacrifice, erotic longing, the cruelty of timing, the ache of memory, the absurdity of desire, and the quiet heroism of everyday affection.
One of the anthology’s most striking aspects—something you’ll pick up on immediately—is the range of narrative tones. Some stories hum with melancholy; others crackle with wit; some tear open wounds; others offer brief, luminous tenderness. Love, Sutherland suggests, is less an emotion and more a shifting moral weather system.
Stylistically, the anthology offers everything: lush Victorian phrasing, clipped modernist minimalism, post-war bleakness, playful metafiction, and raw emotional candour. This variety ensures that reading becomes an act of attunement—each story recalibrates your expectations.
A few selections might feel slight, included more for historical representation than emotional power. But even these serve the anthology’s broader purpose: they reveal how love is shaped by its cultural moment. What was once shocking now seems quaint; what was once discreet now reads like emotional constipation; what was once idealistic now feels naïve.
For you, the most rewarding stories will be those where language and emotion entwine with quiet precision—stories built not on grand declarations but on psychological resonance. The anthology offers several such gems, where the most devastating sentences are whispered rather than shouted.
Ultimately, Sutherland gives you a patchwork, not a thesis. He allows the English tradition to speak for itself—its tenderness, its cruelty, its hesitations, its longings.
The result is a book that you do not read for resolution but for the pleasure of contemplating how humans keep reinventing the same emotion, century after century, each time believing it anew.
For a reader who is drawn to psychological depth, emotional ambiguity, and the subtle architecture of human relationships across historical periods, this volume becomes not merely an anthology but a curated emotional atlas.
Unlike most collections that equate love with romance, Sutherland understands that the English literary tradition has always treated love as a battlefield of class anxiety, moral restraint, desire’s absurdity, and emotional repression.
His editorial vision is not saccharine; it is anthropological. He assembles stories that challenge the reader’s assumptions—stories where love is unspoken but omnipresent, or spoken too loudly and therefore hollow; where desire disturbs social order; where affection survives war, trauma, disappointment, or the passage of time.
One of the book’s great strengths is its temporal sweep. You move from the late 19th century to the present, watching the English emotional landscape transform: Victorian propriety breaking into Edwardian wistfulness, then fracturing into modernist disillusionment, post-war cynicism, and late-20th-century experimentation.
This shifting emotional climate is something you will appreciate.
The early stories are especially rich for readers attuned to nuance. They revolve around restraint—people unable to say what they feel, or unable to understand their own feelings until it’s too late. This tension between desire and decorum evokes the societal structures that shaped English courtship, and Sutherland’s selections highlight how love in that era was always shadowed by fear: fear of scandal, fear of impropriety, fear of making oneself emotionally legible.
Contrast that with the modern stories, where love is almost embarrassingly direct—yet fragmented, self-aware, ironised. Postmodernism turns love into a language game, one you will enjoy deciphering. Some writers undercut romantic expectations entirely, presenting relationships as fleeting transactions or existential negotiations.
Sutherland’s curation is most powerful in the way stories speak to each other. A Victorian tale of doomed lovers might be followed by a sardonic twentieth-century piece that dismantles the same romantic trope with surgical cruelty.
This counterpoint structure allows themes to emerge organically: miscommunication, sacrifice, erotic longing, the cruelty of timing, the ache of memory, the absurdity of desire, and the quiet heroism of everyday affection.
One of the anthology’s most striking aspects—something you’ll pick up on immediately—is the range of narrative tones. Some stories hum with melancholy; others crackle with wit; some tear open wounds; others offer brief, luminous tenderness. Love, Sutherland suggests, is less an emotion and more a shifting moral weather system.
Stylistically, the anthology offers everything: lush Victorian phrasing, clipped modernist minimalism, post-war bleakness, playful metafiction, and raw emotional candour. This variety ensures that reading becomes an act of attunement—each story recalibrates your expectations.
A few selections might feel slight, included more for historical representation than emotional power. But even these serve the anthology’s broader purpose: they reveal how love is shaped by its cultural moment. What was once shocking now seems quaint; what was once discreet now reads like emotional constipation; what was once idealistic now feels naïve.
For you, the most rewarding stories will be those where language and emotion entwine with quiet precision—stories built not on grand declarations but on psychological resonance. The anthology offers several such gems, where the most devastating sentences are whispered rather than shouted.
Ultimately, Sutherland gives you a patchwork, not a thesis. He allows the English tradition to speak for itself—its tenderness, its cruelty, its hesitations, its longings.
The result is a book that you do not read for resolution but for the pleasure of contemplating how humans keep reinventing the same emotion, century after century, each time believing it anew.
February 4, 2019
A pity Goodreads doesn't do half stars. Because this review is for 4 1/2 stars. Arranged chronologically, I didn't quite take to some two or three tales; the first one, by Aphra Behn, I didn't get at all (it was too archaic for this dense reader), ditto with The Wish House by Kipling, some of whose short stories I hold dear. Add to this Elizabeth Bowen's A Love Story--what was that all about?
In the hope that I may still be moved by some of the engaging to very powerful stories in this collection, below is my list of future recommended re-readings to myself:
- The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne by Anthony Trollope
- To Esther by Anne Ritchie (my first time to come across this lady writer, who intrigues me, as her plot and prose sound like Maugham's)
- Olive's Lover by C.C.K. Gonner
- Miss Winchelsea's Heart by H.G. Wells
- A Long-Ago Affair by John Galsworthy (these days, this delightful encounter would be filed under flash fiction)
- Episode by W. Somerset Maugham (having already devoured so many of his short, delectable treats, this one included, I can imagine the difficulty John Sutherland had in choosing only one Maugham love story to share here)
- Fifty Pounds by A.E. Coppard
- The Legacy by Virginia Woolf (my favorite from this selection)
- Love and Money by Phyllis Bentley
- Blind Love by V.S. Pritchett
- The Blue Film by Graham Greene (along with a handful of other stories, Sawi introduced this piece of flash fiction to me some summers ago; a summer or two later, I would discover Graham Greene's masterful and pointed wit on my own)
- An English Unofficial Rose by Paul Theroux
- A Small Spade by Adam Mars-Jones (the longest story here, this one's almost a novella)
In the hope that I may still be moved by some of the engaging to very powerful stories in this collection, below is my list of future recommended re-readings to myself:
- The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne by Anthony Trollope
- To Esther by Anne Ritchie (my first time to come across this lady writer, who intrigues me, as her plot and prose sound like Maugham's)
- Olive's Lover by C.C.K. Gonner
- Miss Winchelsea's Heart by H.G. Wells
- A Long-Ago Affair by John Galsworthy (these days, this delightful encounter would be filed under flash fiction)
- Episode by W. Somerset Maugham (having already devoured so many of his short, delectable treats, this one included, I can imagine the difficulty John Sutherland had in choosing only one Maugham love story to share here)
- Fifty Pounds by A.E. Coppard
- The Legacy by Virginia Woolf (my favorite from this selection)
- Love and Money by Phyllis Bentley
- Blind Love by V.S. Pritchett
- The Blue Film by Graham Greene (along with a handful of other stories, Sawi introduced this piece of flash fiction to me some summers ago; a summer or two later, I would discover Graham Greene's masterful and pointed wit on my own)
- An English Unofficial Rose by Paul Theroux
- A Small Spade by Adam Mars-Jones (the longest story here, this one's almost a novella)
Want to read
September 27, 2025Read so far:
The adventure of the Black Lady / Aphra Behn --2
The picture / William Hazlitt --
The trial of love / Mary Shelley --3
The heart of John Middleton / Elizabeth Gaskell --
*Dennis Haggarty's wife / W.M. Thackeray --
The parson's daughter of Oxney Colne / Anthony Trollope --3
To Esther / Anne Ritchie --
*Enter a dragoon / Thomas Hardy --
Olive's lover / C.C.K. Gonner --
*The wish house / Rudyard Kipling --
*Miss Winchelsea's heart / H.G. Wells --
*A long-ago affair / John Galsworthy --
Claribel / Arnold Bennett --3
*Episode / W. Somerset Maugham --
Fifty pounds / A.E. Coppard --3
*The legacy / Virginia Woolf --
*Samson and Delilah / D.H. Lawrence --
The tunnel / Joyce Cary --3
Something childish but very natural / Katherine Mansfield --2
Love and money / Phyllis Bentley --
*Hubert and Minnie / Aldous Huxley --
*A love story / Elizabeth Bowen --
*Blind love / V.S. Pritchett --
*The blue film / Graham Greene --
Stone boy with dolphin / Sylvia Plath --
An English unofficial rose / Paul Theroux --
The loveliness of the long-distance runner / Sara Maitland --
*A small spade / Adam Mars-Jones--
The adventure of the Black Lady / Aphra Behn --2
The picture / William Hazlitt --
The trial of love / Mary Shelley --3
The heart of John Middleton / Elizabeth Gaskell --
*Dennis Haggarty's wife / W.M. Thackeray --
The parson's daughter of Oxney Colne / Anthony Trollope --3
To Esther / Anne Ritchie --
*Enter a dragoon / Thomas Hardy --
Olive's lover / C.C.K. Gonner --
*The wish house / Rudyard Kipling --
*Miss Winchelsea's heart / H.G. Wells --
*A long-ago affair / John Galsworthy --
Claribel / Arnold Bennett --3
*Episode / W. Somerset Maugham --
Fifty pounds / A.E. Coppard --3
*The legacy / Virginia Woolf --
*Samson and Delilah / D.H. Lawrence --
The tunnel / Joyce Cary --3
Something childish but very natural / Katherine Mansfield --2
Love and money / Phyllis Bentley --
*Hubert and Minnie / Aldous Huxley --
*A love story / Elizabeth Bowen --
*Blind love / V.S. Pritchett --
*The blue film / Graham Greene --
Stone boy with dolphin / Sylvia Plath --
An English unofficial rose / Paul Theroux --
The loveliness of the long-distance runner / Sara Maitland --
*A small spade / Adam Mars-Jones--
December 31, 2013
Certainly not The Oxford Book of Requited English Love Stories.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews