These striking short stories from the 1940s and 50s depict women and men caught between the pull of personal desires and profound social change. From a remote peninsula in Cornwall to the ornate drawing rooms of the British Raj, domestic arrangements are rewritten, social customs are revoked and new freedoms are embraced.Expertly chosen and introduced by writer and critic Lucy Scholes, this collection reacquaints readers with mesmerising stories by acclaimed favourites such as Daphne du Maurier and Elizabeth Bowen and introduces lesser-known gems from Frances Bellerby and Inez Holden. Suffused with tension and longing, this collection is a window into a remarkable era of writing.