We started our short story journey with a short story by Haruki Murakami called On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning - this story was very much a slice of life as it talked of a young man seeing a young woman, thinking about what he might say, passing her and then telling himself a story about how the two of them might have met in a previous life.

Then we read The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield, a very well known story with modernist overtones. We see the build up to a garden party through the eyes of Laura, the daughter of the house. Through her we see the excesses and the snobbery behind the garden party. Then we hear of a young man who has been killed in a road accident, his family live on the poorer side of town not far from Laura’s home. We see Laura wanting to cancel the party and the others saying no - then Laura taking left overs to the widow. This story encapsulates changing attitudes in teh early 20th century - suggesting that the youth (represented by Laura) might do better in the future.

Thirdly we read some Hemingway, The Three-Day Blow, a look at masculinity through the personalities of two young men. Drink, baseball, their favourite writers, and then two very different philosophies on marriage. Hemingway packs a lot into a short story and gives us numerous glimpses into his own psyche.