This selection of ten short stories about women by modern writers (James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, Roald Dahl, James Thurber, Edna O’Brien, Anne Cassidy, Malachi Whitaker and Janet Frame) from different English-speaking countries – England, Ireland, America and New Zealand – explores such themes as love’s dilemma, loneliness, crime, myths and nostalgia. Dictionary work, the role of the narrator, setting, story and plots, speech modes and characterisation are all featured in the analysis sections of each story.