Cane

Fifteen stories about people who almost change their lives and then do not. It ends with The Dead, widely considered the finest short story written in English.

James Joyce

Two people meet on holiday expecting nothing and end up trapped in the only real feeling either has had. Chekhov's gift was showing ordinary disappointment without ever raising his voice.

Anton Chekhov

Stories about people who define themselves entirely through others and are left hollow when those others go. A good entry point to Chekhov's quieter cruelties.

Anton Chekhov

The complete short fiction of a writer who specialised in the single misunderstanding that ruins a life. Over a thousand pages, including The Necklace and dozens of other studies in wasted years.

Guy de Maupassant

Linked stories about the private griefs of a small town, told through a young reporter who is about to leave it. Anderson called his characters grotesques, meaning people bent out of shape by a single held belief.

Sherwood Anderson