I cannot wait for autumn. I completely reject the idea that our fifth heatwave is pending: it’s been one long, hot, horrible summer interspersed with some cooler days on occasion. In an effort to be less grumpy about the humidity and try and embrace it to some extent, I read Stories for Summer and Days by the Pool. This short story collection is published as part of the marvellous British Library Women Writers series, edited by Simon at Stuck in a Book who provides a great Introduction.

Short story collections can be variable but this is consistently strong, as you would expect from big-hitters including Elizabeth Taylor, Daphne du Maurier, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, Maeve Brennan, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Muriel Spark…

While, as previously established, I despise London in summer, it is an appealing setting in Black Cat For Luck by GB Stern.

“The sea has its enchantment, and the woods have their witchery, and even a meadow full of cows shambling down to drink from the brook is all very well; but there is that about a big city in early June which can surpass all these via magic of its own: a promise in the flicker of sunshine through the flat leaves, and on the pale, shining, mottled trunks of the plane trees, more exciting than the broadest fulfilment.”

It follows the intrigues of a summer garden party in the more exclusive areas of the city: an ambitious young man called Maurice Jodelet, a savvy young woman named Barbara, and Sir Nicholas Broadfoot “of the Foreign Office” are drawn into a wittily conveyed, slightly twisty tale of small-scale drama.

This was a great example of how a plot-driven tale can be set-up and perfectly executed in a short space.  The characterisation, particularly of the two young people, was well realised. I have some GB Stern novels buried in the TBR somewhere and on the strength of this story I’m keen to dig them out.

Phyllis Bottome was an author I didn’t know among such lauded company, and her story The Shark’s Fin is a more typical summer setting, with a newly married couple on honeymoon in the Caribbean. Dorothy is young and pretty, and fully aware of her appeal:

“Her eyes were not quite the blue of the Caribbean sea, but they sustained the comparison.”

In just eight pages Bottome creates a perfect mini-portrait of a spoilt, naïve young woman, and the significant ramifications that self-centred, impulsive actions can have even when a situation appears outwardly unchanged. It’s the sort of story perfectly suited to the short-form.

I highly recommend this collection; a carefully chosen range of great writing which is hugely enjoyable.

To end, my local lido is not as glamorous as the Caribbean, but it is the largest freshwater outdoor pool in the UK and has been incredibly warm this summer (I’m not one of the hardy types who swim there all year round, when they smash the surface ice in winter):