Some of the greatest short stories of the twentieth century have been written by women, yet they are consistently under represented in fiction anthologies. The Oxford Book of Modern Women's Stories aims to redress the balance by bringing together some of the best women's writing from such acclaimed practitioners as Katherine Mansfield and Edith Wharton and more recent work from exciting and innovative authors such as Bharati Mukherjee, Alice Munro and Anjana Appachana.

Along the way you will find humour, passion, eccentricity, forcefulness, elan, intellectual vigour, subversion - indeed, every kind of literary expertise from ironic detachment to full-blooded engagement with the issues raised. Every one of the authors represented here has her own, perfectly realized, individual angle of vision, whether it's the zestfulness of Angela Carter, the breathtaking evocations of Eudora Welty, the quirkiness of Paley, or the pungency of Flannery O'Connor. These are writers engaging with many different genres, including the fairy tale, ghost stories, and historical fiction, as well as domestic drama and more abstract introspection.

There are examples here of English decorum and American verve - and vice versa - indeed, such an abundance of entertainment and enrichment that no reader will fail to be amused, enthralled, intrigued, or invigorated.