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The Story: Love, Loss and the Lives of Women: 100 Great Short Stories

The Story: Love, Loss and the Lives of Women: 100 Great Short Stories - Victoria Hislop I've always found the idea of scoring anthologies to be a rather daunting prospect, as there are just so many variables to consider before making that final decision. Perhaps I over-think this, but I'd suggest it's difficult enough after digesting, say, fifteen or twenty short stories to condense one's feelings about such a potentially wide variety of material into a single rating.

So how about a collection of a hundred short stories? How am I possibly supposed to attribute a single arbitrary number to such a monumentally huge ensemble of potentially diverse literary pieces?


Actually, scoring this collection was surprisingly easy.


Victoria Hislop has managed to compile a wonderful collection of stories that are thought-provoking and genuinely touching. Not every story may suit you (and Hislop is quick to acknowledge this in her introduction), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the vast majority offered up something to leave me feeling satisfied with their inclusion. She does play it a little safe at times with some of the more famous stories included (the likes of Carter, Atwood and Jackson instantly spring to mind), but this is hardly a criticism and will be a real treat for those who have never read these stories before.


Highly recommended!