A long time ago - perhaps thirty years ago - I read a short story which for some reason really made an impression on me. It was set in the late 19th or perhaps early 20th century, and was about two sisters whose domineering father had recently died, and who were unsure of what to do with their new freedom. It was very well written and stayed with me. Years later I wanted to read it again but, try as I might, I couldn't find it. I asked around the English teachers in my school (all I could describe was the plot because I could remember neither title nor author), and looked up collections of short stories, all without success. I wondered if it might have been written by Henry James, but I perused his short stories to no avail.
And then, just as I had given up all hope, I found it! Last week I was browsing around various "reading blogs" looking for ideas for holiday reading, and I came across a review of the Collected Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield, a New Zealand writer who also spent time living in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. One of her short stories is called "The Daughters of the late Colonel" and i realised immediately that it is the very one that I have been searching for! I have downloaded all of Katherine Mansfield's short stories to my Kindle and look forward to reading them. I am so excited about this!
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