A Different Sound

This excellent collection brings together stories from the 1940s and 50s, written by various women. Some of these women are well known and some less so. There are classic stories included (such as The Birds by Daphne du Maurier) and others that are relatively obscure. Some of the authors are better known for their novels and some aren't known much at all, but should be. I'd read a few of the stories included before, but most were new to me and all were wonderful. It's unusual for me to like every story in a collection, but such was the case with this one. The introduction was informative as well. If you love short stories, I can highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for letting me read this ARC.

This collection of short stories provides readers with insightful and thoughtful tales of womanhood, predominantly set in wartime Britain.

My favourites include: The Cut Finger by Frances Bellerby; The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier; Listen to the Magnolias by Stella Gibbons, Shocking Weather, Isn't It by Inez Holden, and The Thames Spread Out by Elizabeth Taylor. But all were excellent!

This short story collection flowed very nicely together, giving a good mix of dark and light stories. Very well enjoyed it, and found some new authors that I will be reading more from!
Lovely book!

I received a free digital review copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Why did I choose to read and review this anthology? In university, I signed up for Victorian literature, multicultural literature, and short story courses. They all turned out to be focused on women’s writing. So, when I saw this anthology on NetGalley I requested it because I was eager to revisit it, to see how this conversation has changed and how it has stayed the same. Overall, as a group of stories, I liked this book. There were lots of 5-star stories. The atmospheric settings and the way the character’s inner worlds were described made me feel connected to the plots and characters. However, some stories didn’t evoke anything, and overall I wished that more of the themes had been explicitly empowering and uplifting.

The Cut Finger by Frances Bellerby: The thing that I liked most about this story was the cozy, protected feeling that surrounds the child protagonist, from her family interactions to her cheerful acceptance of life as it comes to her, because she is loved. Frances Bellerby’s descriptions of the child’s internal and external world made me feel like I was seeing the world like a child again. It made me want to watch for other works by Bellerby. Rating: 5/5

Summer Night by Elizabeth Bowen: Elizabeth Bowen’s descriptions of scenes are sharp with light and sound and create a feeling of tension and negative anticipation. Likewise, the characters’ situations and actions are trivial in themselves, but the effect these things have on others is amplified and unpredictable. The quickly changing settings, characters, and moods made it difficult for me to read and parts of the plot were a bit tedious. I had to reread parts when I lost the plot and I found this story difficult to finish. Rating 3/5

The Birds by Daphne du Maurier: A capable man, who objectively should succeed, is frustrated by limitations beyond his control and the inadequate or poorly timed actions of others. I enjoyed it, but it was enough. I don’t think I would read it again in a longer format, and overall, from a present-day perspective, the concept has been revisited many times in books and movies. If you like survival, man-against-nature stories you might enjoy it. Rating: 4/5

The Land Girl by Diana Gardner: A temporary worker is staying on a farm with a middle-aged couple, but there is a lot of tension between her and the woman of the house. The story is narrated in first-person by the temporary worker and she is not very articulate or mature when it comes to emotions, conflict, or decision-making. The story was maddening and unsatisfying and I didn’t enjoy it, but at least it evoked a strong reaction. Rating: 4/5

Listen to the Magnolias by Stella Gibbons: This is such a cozy story. An elderly woman who lost her husband is anxiously preparing her house to temporarily house a group of American soldiers. If you have ever hosted guests, or if you are a person who gets anxious waiting for something, you will find this very relatable. I’m giving this a 5/5 because it was a delightful, amusing story. Rating: 5/5

Shocking Weather, Isn’t It? by Inez Holden: We follow a woman as she visits her cousin on two occasions, years apart. If you ever considered that some people are not suited to the circumstances of their life, but would flourish in a different situation, you will find this story interesting. My main criticism is that nothing much happened and it lacked the immersiveness of some of the other stories. Rating: 3/5

The First Party by Attia Hosain: A refreshingly honest perspective of Western culture told through the eyes of a newcomer, who is a new bride, originally from India. She feels socially awkward at a party and has trouble tolerating the unfamiliar actions and attitudes of her new community. I was born in North America, but I’m very reserved and an introvert. I often find myself repulsed by loud, extroverted people who demand that I interact differently than I am accustomed. I often feel ostracized when people don’t include me in the way I want to be included. So, it was easy for me to empathize. Rating: 5/5

Three Miles Up by Elizabeth Jane Howard: A purely entertaining spooky story about two friends on a boat trip. It starts with Wind in the Willows vibes, but strange and mysterious things soon begin to happen. Rating: 4/5

The Skylight by Penelope Mortimer: The weight of responsibility pushes a mother into a precarious situation. If you have been solely responsible for the safety of a child, or have ever thought that you have to do everything by yourself, you will relate to the protagonist in this story. The most striking thing about this story was the rich, but succinct, characterization of every character in the story. Rating: 5/5

The Thames Spread Out by Elizabeth Taylor: We meet Rose during a natural disaster and she seems mostly unphased by her situation, but it causes her to reevaluate the decisions that led her to be so isolated. This is an uplifting story that shows us it’s never too late to do something new. The descriptions of the natural and manmade environments are also lovely to read. Rating: 5/5

Scorched Earth Policy by Sylvia Townsend Warner: A cozy short story about a couple who are dedicated to a cause that gives them a sense of purpose. I liked this story because they were so joyfully faithful and humble in their work. Rating: 5/5

Tremendous..
An outstanding collection of stories from a series of remarkable women writers written in the 1940’s and 1950’s and set in various places around the world. Within the collection the reader will discover some lesser known writers as well as the rather well known. With a fascinating and apt introduction from Lucy Scholes, as well as being selected by her, this is another tremendous offering from Pushkin Press.

This is a really nicely cohesive group of stories. There are some very familiar names and stories (Daphne Du Maurier, the Birds) and some less so, but perhaps due to the period and origin focused on, the settings and general mood flow well. It’s hard to pick a favorite!

This is a collection of short stories from women writers of the 40s and 50s, a period of immense change in British society, with topics such as the war, the changing roles of women, the rise of technology and the end of Empire appearing throughout. There's a real mix in the style, the length and the tone of the stories themselves and also a mix of already famous and lesser known authors, but the collection hangs together very well and does give a broad picture of women's lives. It's hard to choose a favourite story as they're all so different but I did love The Birds by Daphne du Maurier for its intense atmosphere and also The Land Girl by Diana Gardner for allowing its main character to be quite so self centred and vindictive. It's a collection I can imagine returning to many times.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

A book worth buying for one story alone, The Birds. Famous as a Hitchcock novel, the terror and dread created by Daphne du Maurier is astonishing.

The 40s and 50s were a golden time for women's writing. At this time women had very few rights but writers such as Elizabeth Taylor, du Maurier and Penelope Mortimer gave a voice to millions of women who were resenting the loss of new found freedom after the war.

This is a stellar collection with an outstanding introduction by Lucy Scholes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the eARC in return for an honest review.

This was such a solid collection with a great mix of voices and stories. I'm not quite sure about how cohesive the collection feels as a whole, but I appreciated each individual piece, and thus the collective of them all.

A collection of 11 short stories written by women last century between 1940 and 1961. The most famous story included is ‘The Birds’ by Daphne du Maurier. Other well known writers like Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor and Stella Gibbons. My two favourite stories were ‘The Skylight’ by Penelope Mortimer about a mother and young son locked out of their French holiday home and ‘Three Miles Up’ by Elizabeth Jane Howard, a strange and atmospheric story about two men on a canal boat holiday. I really enjoyed this collection, it’s an interesting range of styles and themes.

A Different Sound: Stories by Mid-Century Women Writers is an interesting collection of short stories.
In my opinion there is a clear standout: The Birds by Daphne du Maurier is easily the most gripping one of the bunch. It is surrounded by other great stories (such as The Land Girl, Listen to the Magnolias and The Skylight) and some stories that were alright to good. A few of these stories were underwhelming (to me), I simply didn't understand what they were about or connected to the characters at all. Some of these felt like they were dragging on and on, not a thing you want to feel while reading a short story.
Thematically this short story collection surrounds infidelity and sexual desire, the war (or other attacks) and anxiety around parenting.
You are definitely able to link the different stories through motifs while reading and reflecting on them.
Based on my enjoyment of The Birds and The Skylight alone I would recommend this. I most enjoyed this collection when the story I read was tense and filled with a sense of doom.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with an ARC. The opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way.

I loved this book! It's a collection of stories by mid-20th century British women and there wasn't a lemon in the bunch. You might expect cozy stories about vicars and nosy spinsters but these were almost all creepy tales, and many were very unsettling indeed. My favorites were "The Birds" (the story that inspired the Alfred Hitchcock movie), and "Land Girl" which shows that while some people appeared to be doing their part to win WWII, they were continuing to be their true, terrible selves. I know some people don't read short stories, but I've always liked story collections and this was one of my favorites.

What a dream! If I could pick a favourite genre of author it'd be mid century women - and we have some of the absolute best in this collection. Funny, dark, moving - everything is here from an often overlooked generation of writers.

I have been reading this collection over the last month or so, some of the authors I have heard of , some were new to me.
All of the stories are set during the 1940's & 50's and when reading I found it hard to believe just how much time has passed since then when so much that is written here resonates strongly today.
This was a really gorgeous collection and a really nice mix of genres and writing styles, I am looking forward to going back and reading more from some of the authors and I am going to buy a paperback copy of this collection for my shelves. Three of the stories were five star reads for me- The Birds, The Land Girl and The First Party and while others didn't' strike such high notes overall its a wonderful collection. Recommend.


4 stars,

This is a fascinating collection of short stories, all written by women and originally published in the 1940s and 50s. When I saw the list of authors included in the book, there were several I’d already read, others I’d heard of but never read, and a few that were completely new to me. There are eleven stories in total and as always when writing about collections like this, I’ll have more to say about some of them than others!

There’s only one story in this collection that I’ve read before – and that’s The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. As she’s one of my favourite authors, I decided to read it again and found it just as wonderful and atmospheric as I did the first time. Even if you’ve seen the Hitchcock film, I would still recommend reading the story which is quite different in several ways.

Elizabeth Jane Howard is an author I’m familiar with through her Cazalet Chronicles (I’ve read the first two books in the series and am planning to read the others) and she is represented here with Three Miles Up, an eerie story in which two men are taking a trip through the countryside on a canal boat when they encounter a young woman called Sharon. Once Sharon joins them on the boat, things begin to go wrong and they find themselves sailing up a canal that doesn’t appear on any maps. I loved this one, although I wasn’t aware that Howard wrote ghost stories so it wasn’t what I’d expected at all.

The other two authors I’ve read previously are Stella Gibbons and Elizabeth Taylor. The Gibbons story, Listen to the Magnolias, is set during the war and involves an elderly widow nervously awaiting the arrival of five American soldiers who will be billeted in her home, while Taylor’s The Thames Spread Out follows a woman who is trapped upstairs in her house during a flood while swans swim at the bottom of her staircase. I liked both of these, particularly the second.

Apart from The Birds, my favourite story in the book turned out to be The Skylight by Penelope Mortimer, in which a woman and her young son rent a house in a remote area of France but arrive to find the doors all locked and no sign of the owners. The only point of access is an open skylight in the roof and the mother makes a decision she quickly comes to regret. Mortimer creates a real sense of fear and tension in this story and I couldn’t wait to reach the end to find out if everything was going to be okay!

Considering the publication dates, the Second World War naturally plays a part in many of these stories – I’ve already mentioned the Stella Gibbons, but another is Diana Gardner’s wonderful story, The Land Girl, about a young woman placed on a farm as a Land Girl who takes an instant dislike to the woman whose home she is staying in and decides, out of spite and jealousy, to cause trouble for her.

The stories above are the ones that really stood out for me in this collection, but I enjoyed all of them to some extent, apart from maybe Elizabeth Bowen’s Summer Night which I found well written but confusing due to the structure and changing perpectives. I was also slightly disappointed by Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Scorched Earth Policy about an elderly couple preparing for a wartime invasion, simply because it was too short for any real plot or character development. It was nice to discover some authors I’d never come across before, though: Frances Bellerby, who in The Cut Finger tells the story of a little girl learning some important lessons about the world; Inez Holden whose Shocking Weather, Isn’t It? follows a woman who visits her cousin in various different places over the years; and Attia Hosain who explores the feelings of a newly married woman struggling to fit in with her husband’s friends in The First Party.

I can definitely recommend this collection; I found something to interest me in every story, even the ones I didn’t enjoy as much. I also now have a list of authors I need to explore further!