This anthology brings together twenty-eight lively and readable short stories by nineteenth-century women writers, including gothic tales to romances, detective fiction and ghost stories. It contains short fiction by well-known authors such as Maria Edgeworth, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell and Margaret Oliphant. Nineteenth-Century Short Stories by Womenincludes: * a full scholarly introduction * biographies for each of the authors * full explanatory notes and suggestions for further reading * a critical commentary, publication details and historical context * a full and wide-ranging bibliography. The bibliography of resources and further reading will enable those interested in pursuing research on any author or topic to do so with ease, and a thematic index will enable teachers to select material best suited to their courses.