The Top 10 Short Stories - British Women: The top ten short stories of all time written by British female authors.

Written by Aphra Behn, Mary Cholmondeley, Charlotte Mew and 7 more

Narrated by Eve Karpf, Ghizela Rowe and Amanda Weston

The top 10 short stories of all time written by British female authors.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

Here, in this volume, precious gems of work shine, unequalled in their brilliance. Their own literary lives may have been, in most cases, uphill and hard fought for in a society that found it hard to value their worth. Their talents ensured the permanence of their work.

1 - The Top 10 - The British Women - An Introduction

2 - The Unfortunate Bride by Aphra Behn

3 - Her Murderer by Mary Cholmondeley

4 - Irremediable by Ella D'Arcy

5 - Sophie Mason Comes Back by E M Delafield

6 - Rhapsody by Dorothy Edwards

7 - The Lifted Veil by George Eliot

8 - Sextons Hero by Elizabeth Gaskell

9 - Passed by Charlotte Mew

10 - The Mourner by Mary Shelley

11 - Solid Objects by Virginia Woolf

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Apr 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781839678509

Aphra Behn

Born in the first few decades of the seventeenth century, Aphra Behn is one of early literature’s best-known female writers. Behn had the lucky distinction of being able to support herself strictly by her “pen,” something unheard of for women of her time. Throughout her long career, she wrote in various forms—poetry, plays, prose—and is known as a member of the ‘fair triumvirate of wit’ alongside fellow scribes Eliza Haywood and Delarivier Manley. Although little is known about her early life, Behn’s father held a post as lieutenant governor of Surinam, and Behn’s experiences during her stay most likely formed the basis for her most famous work, Oroonoko. Behn was also a popular dramatist in her time, penning critical successes like The Rover and The Feigned Courtesans. Her literary exploits aside, Behn is also known to have acted as a political spy for King Charles II of England during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Behn died in 1689, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.