The Montana Stories by Katherine Mansfield

Persephone book no. 25

In 1921 Katherine Mansfield came to Switzerland, to live at the Chalet des Sapins in Montana (seen on the right in a 1913 photograph); she was 32 and seriously ill with tuberculosis, but the next few months were to be the most fruitful of her life - she did not have much time left to her. The Montana Stories contains all the short stories she wrote between July of that year and her death in January 1923.

These short stories have never before been published together with unfinished fragments and extracts from the Letters and Journals from those months, and new and detailed editorial notes; nor have the original illustrations that accompanied the stories' first magazine publication been previously reprinted. But by reading everything in strictly chronological order the reader understands the way a writer of genius forced herself on during this astonishingly creative period.

REVIEW

"Mansfield's skill lies in her ability to represent the ordinary - and in some ways affirming - pain and worry that is part of every-day experience. Although many of the situations are no longer directly relevant, the humanity of the characters make the stories incredibly immersive. Everything that happens is related with such skill and simple interest that they are compelling even to modern readers." - Amazon reviewer

PRODUCT DETAILS
Paperback with jacket
Publisher: Persephone Books
ISBN: 978-1903155158
Pages: 344
Endpaper: The fabric is 'Stems and looping tendrils with harebells', designed in 1921 by Constance Irving. We chose it because the delicate blue harebells could be the gentians growing in the mountains; although the background is sombre, the flowers are both pretty and sophisticated.