With the exception of the first four stories, all were written over a period of ten years. These stories and the letters that follow reflect the urgent need of a writer who knew her time was limited. All but four of the texts of the stories reprinted here are versions that Mansfield herself revised or selected.

Twenty excerpts from Mansfield's correspondence address her writing process and her views on her work, topics that are rarely mentioned in her many letters. "Criticism" includes eighteen essays that collectively indicate the changing tones in how Mansfield has been read by critics. Contributors include fellow writers Rebecca West, T. S. Eliot, Katherine Anne Porter, V. S. Pritchett, Elizabeth Bowen, and Frank O'Connor, as well as biographers Claire Tomalin and Vincent O'Sullivan, among others. A Selected Bibliography is also included.

Pages: 440, Year of Publication: 0108, Dimensions: 13.2x13.2cm