Short stories really hit the big time in Britain in the Victorian and modernist period – at exactly the same time that the professional woman writer became a force to be reckoned with. The two have been wed ever since in a spectacularly successful union. The BBC short story award had an all-woman shortlist this year, as it did the year before. And, as usual, the 4th Estate list showcases some of the very best female short story writers around.
