The Penguin Book of Contemporary Women's Short Stories

by Susan Hill (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Short Stories, Anthologies

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 1995

About the author

Susan Hill was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1942. Her hometown was later referred to in her novel A Change for the Better (1969) and some short stories especially "Cockles and Mussels".

She attended Scarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved to Coventry where her father worked in car and aircraft factories. Hill states that she attended a girls’ grammar school, Barr's Hill. Her fellow pupils included Jennifer Page, the first Chief Executive of the Millennium Dome. At Barrs Hill she took A levels in English, French, History and Latin, proceeding to an English degree at King's College London. By this time she had already written her first novel, The Enclosure which was published by Hutchinson in her first year at university. The novel was criticised by The Daily Mail for its sexual content, with the suggestion that writing in this style was unsuitable for a "schoolgirl".

Her next novel Gentleman and Ladies was published in 1968. This was followed in quick succession by A Change for the Better, I'm the King of the Castle, The Albatross and other stories, Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night, A Bit of Singing and Dancing and In the Springtime of Year, all written and published between 1968 and 1974.

In 1975 she married Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells and they moved to Stratford upon Avon. Their first daughter, Jessica, was born in 1977 and their second daughter, Clemency, was born in 1985. Hill has recently founded her own publishing company, Long Barn Books, which has published one work of fiction per year.

Librarian's Note: There is more than one author by this name.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read once - started again and mid-way through passed to a friend - who is now several 1000 kms away in another country - so will close it here. 5 stars if memory serves.

[Alec Sibbald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love short story anthologies, this was great some real gems were tucked in there. The first half of the book is best although it is peppered with some guff throughout.

My one complaint is that despite the multitude of very talented writers and their many backgrounds many of the stories were very similar in style and theme.

I'm a big fan of social realism and the pettiness of daily life scrutinised under a poetic microscope but I felt that I would get muddled as I read the book, thinking I had already read something because it was so similar to something else. I guess that is Susan Hill's fault more than any of the writers.

There was also certain level of drear, which was bearable; but to create an anthology that is meant to represent a swathe of contemporary female writers and fill it with bleak and miserable meditations on unsatisfactory life is doing them an injustice.
I didn't necessarily need some sort of mid-way comic relief or bonus sci-fi short just a broader representation.

Good book, well worth a read my favourite story was The Read Head by Penelope Gilliat

[alex drummond · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn’t read all of these, i don’t know why i though i could read it all in one go. to me, it’s a book i’d take with me on trips and pick up every now and then. i liked the fifteen dollar eagle by sylvia plath and shepards bush by maeve binchy a lot.

[Jess]

I find it especially hard to rate short story collections because most of the time the stories are all so different, particularly when they are all written by different authors, and for that reason I'm leaving it unrated.
Some were fantastic, and some a little boring. I'd have to say my favourites were 'Shepherd's Bush', 'Peter and the Wolf', 'Some are Born to Sweet Delight' and 'The Redhead'. 'Shepherd's Bush' being the first of the collection set up the pleasant set of readings I was in for, and 'Peter and the Wolf' I felt had potential for a lot of reading between the lines. I liked the story very much and actually was even quite inspired by it, so I am happy that I gave this collection a go, because I probably wouldn't have found it otherwise :)

[TwoDrinks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had this book for 17 years and have finally persevered to read the whole thing. Sadly, I didn't really like it but I think that may be because it's best dipped in and out of rather than reading in one go as there is great variety in the writing styles. I've also been horribly spoilt by reading a short story anthology by Tania Hershmann.

The stories that I particularly enjoyed were:

Frostbite by Janice Galloway
Revenge by Ellen Gilchrist
Some Are Born to Sweet Deligh by Nadine Gordimer
The Wrong Vocation by Moy McCrory.

In my opinion the best story was 'Language' by Mary Scott and this is the basis for me passing this book on to a friend who will also enjoy this short story.

There were some stories I read and had absolutely no idea what was going on in them. Regrettably, I couldn't be arsed to go back and re-read them to try and work out what was going on.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Shepherd's bush / Maeve Binchy --
Body and soul / Leonora Brito --
Peter and the wolf / Angela Carter --4
Scorched earth / Judith Condon --
The bridesmaid / Judy Corbalis --
The pool / Daphne du Maurier --3
Swans / Janet Frame --3
*Up north / Mavis Gallant --
Frostbite / Janice Galloway --
Revenge / Ellen Gilchrist --3
The redhead / Penelope Gilliatt --
Some are born to sweet delight / Nadine Gordimer --4
The thorn / Mary Gordon --
Lilacs / Mary Lavin --3
Innocent pleasures / Olivia Manning --3
*The wrong vocation / Moy McCrory --
Sweetie rationing / Candia McWilliam --
*The Peace of Utrecht / Alice Munro --
*The immigrant story / Grace Paley --
*The fifteen dollar eagle / Sylvia Plath --
Language / Mary Scott --4
What are neighbours for / Helen Simpson --
Violet / Frances Towers --
June afternoon / Christa Wolf--

[Aimee Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a snooze