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The best short stories ever written

The best short stories ever written

by Indira Birnie, Sam Parker, and Lois Neville

23 September 2021

min read

Modern life can get busy, which is why short stories offer the perfect form of escapism. Whether you’re trying to get out of a reading slump, looking for a slim volume for your commute, or keen to explore your favourite author’s lesser-known work, short stories are a fantastic way to get your reading fix. But, with so many options out there, how do you know which tales to add to your TBR pile?

To get you started, we’ve created a guide to the best short stories across a whole host of genres and themes. This list is by no means exhaustive but it includes what are generally considered, by readers and critics alike, heavy hitters in the short story world, as well as a few hidden gems along the way. So, without further ado, here are our recommendations of literature's greatest short stories to entertain, distract, terrify and inspire.

Best horror short stories

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (1948)

In the wake of its first publication in the New Yorker, The Lottery caused a flurry of letters from readers – more than any work of fiction had previously generated. A small rural community organises an annual lottery, but exactly what is this lottery for? An unsettling read, this is quintessential Shirley Jackson.

Key themes: Folk horror, community, sacrifice.

Why it’s made the list: Deeply disturbing, The Lottery’s themes endure today just as they did when it was initially published in the late 1940s.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman (1892)

The Yellow Wallpaper is more of a novella than a short story, but it'd be foolish to leave out this seminal piece of writing. Our narrator is left to seemingly convalesce in a room decorated with yellow wallpaper, but slowly, things unravel. It shows just how far we've come in our thinking on women's mental health and, perhaps, how far we still need to go.

Key themes: Claustrophobia, the effects of gaslighting, restrictive gender roles.

Why it’s made the list: With gender politics at its centre, The Yellow Wallpaper still manages to get under the skin over 130 years later.

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)

The Tell Tale Heart is one of the most famous short stories of all time. Poe's matter-of-fact and economical writing style works to full effect in this tale of a man's haunted conscience. We are led through the details of a horrific crime, but did it really happen? As the unnamed narrator tries to convince us of his sanity, his paranoia only worsens. Hugely influential and, even today, enjoyable.

Key themes: Unreliability, paranoia, mistrust

Why it’s made the list: An absolute classic of a horror story, The Tell Tale Heart brims with a chilling atmosphere as its narrator plunges into madness.

Best thriller short stories

Don't Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier (1973)

A couple, on holiday to try and overcome the pain of their daughter's death, get caught up in a sinister series of events. As you might expect, Don't Look Now is filled with the kind of slow-burning tension of which Daphne Du Maurier was the master.

Key themes: Grief, obsession, fate

Why it’s made the list: The fuzzy edges of fact and fiction makes Don’t Look Now’s ending all the more impactful.

A View from the Observatory by Helen Dunmore (2018)

Two women look down on the Clifton Suspension Bridge from Bristol's camera obscura and witness something ominous, though precisely what is left to the reader to decide. A View from the Observatory is full of menace; it shows Dunmore, one of Britain's best modern short story writers, at her peak.

Key themes: The unknown, perception

Why it’s made the list: Holding back key information about what is actually seen deepens the feeling of uncertainty in A View from the Observatory. It’s show-don’t-tell at its finest.

The Landlady by Roald Dahl (1959)

As close as any short story to being ‘perfect’, Dahl's most iconic adult work is a macabre murder mystery condensed to a few dozen pages. A young man stays at a seemingly quaint bed and breakfast, and well, things aren’t at all what they seem. The Landlady will send a wicked chill down your neck, and you'll never book an Airbnb in quite the same way again.

Key themes: Deception, naiveté

Why it’s made the list: Murder might not immediately seem ripe for laughs, but the darkly comic tone of The Landlady is perfectly set up for a shocking reveal.

Best short stories about love and romance

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver (1981)

Two couples drink and meditate on the meaning of ‘real’ love, sharing their anecdotes and experiences. Raymond Carver's beautifully spare writing is an exercise in minimalism, and he gets to the heart of the matter like no one else can. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – and the others in the collection – cemented Carver's position as one of the all-time greatest short story writers.

Key themes: Slice-of-life, conversations, love

Why it’s made the list: Explored as a conversation between four people, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love interrogates all the different facets of love, including its highs and lows.

Remember This by Graham Swift (2014)

A newly married couple share a simple, happy day. In terms of action, there's not much else we can reveal here except to say, Remember This is heartbreaking in the way only a brilliant short story can be – especially a short story by Graham Swift.

Key themes: Tenderness, intimacy, the joy of ordinary life

Why it’s made the list: Highlighting the beauty of everyday life, Remember This is tinged with melancholy.

Best classic short stories

The Nose by Nikolai Gogol (1836)

A significant amount of notable satirical writing emerged from life under totalitarian regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe. Still, The Nose, about a St Petersburg official whose nose decides it wants to lead a life independent of the face it was once attached to, is among the best of the best.

Key themes: Satire, politics, absurdity

Why it’s made the list: A take-down on totalitarian ideals, The Nose’s absurdity highlights the ridiculousness of bureaucracy and societal status.

The Daughters of the Late Colonel by Katherine Mansfield (1921)

Follow Josephine and Constantia, or Jug and Con, as they interact with each other in The Daughters of the Late Colonel, making arrangements in the wake of their father's death. There's intense sadness here, but also caustic humour and all the other emotions that come with the daily reality of grief.

Key themes: Ongoing effects of control, decision paralysis, dependency

Why it’s made the list: A bittersweet exploration of life after a repressed domesticity, The Daughter of the Late Colonel is a warning against lives half-lived.

Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin (1965)

Set in the American Deep South during the height of the Civil Rights movement, Baldwin's famous short story Going to Meet the Man examines racial tension from both sides of the coin without denying either side their humanity. As a man recalls a chilling childhood memory, Baldwin probes beneath the skin for an unflinching look at the origins of violence and discrimination.

Key themes: Race, power, identity, violence

Why it’s made the list: Unflinching and stark, Going to Meet the Man remains a relevant and powerful short story about racism in the USA.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (1888)

A story for children, yes, but it's no surprise English literature's greatest proponent of the bon mot infused his fairytales with plenty of sumptuous allegories for adult foibles such as vanity, greed and pride. The Happy Prince is perhaps Oscar Wilde’s best.

Key themes: Compassion, selflessness

Why it’s made the list: A bittersweet fairytale with an enduring message, The Happy Prince can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

Best short stories for adults

What, Of This Goldfish, Would You Wish? by Etgar Keret (2012)

Keret's work is generally on the shorter side of the short story, but it brims with invention and often features delightfully bizarre situations – like this one. What, Of This Goldish, Would You Wish? features an impatient, Russian-speaking, wish-granting goldfish.

Key themes: Loneliness, surrealism, desperation

Why it’s made the list: Blending whimsy with dark emotion, What, Of This Goldfish, Would You Wish? explores the human need for connection.

Voices of the Fallen Heroes by Yukio Mishima (1966)

Writer Yukio Mishima explores Japanese cultural identity after WWII in Voices of the Fallen Heroes, albeit supernaturally. Featuring two Buddhist monks undertaking a seance, this short story exemplifies Mishima’s ongoing interrogation into what it means to be Japanese in a post-war Japan.

Key themes: National identity, modern values, spiritual decline

Why it’s made the list: Navigating the pull of modernity against tradition, Voices of the Fallen Heroes uses a unique literary device to explore its themes.

Chinatown by Oh Jung-hee (1978)

A coming-of-age short story, Chinatown follows a Korean girl in a post-Korean War setting. Exploring themes of violence, death, sexuality, and morality, we, the reader, watch as this young girl navigates the complexities of adult life as she stands on the edge of becoming an adult herself.

Key themes: Coming-of-age, city life, human experience

Why it’s made the list: Seeing the adult experience through the lens of a child sheds greater light on the fragility of the human experience, making Chinatown a deeply empathetic short story.

I Bought a Little City by Donald Barthelme (1974)

The narrator of I Bought a Little City has indeed bought a little city – Galveston, Texas, to be precise. At first, he says he'll only change things gradually, but as events spiral out of control, he soon comes to resemble something more like a despot. As funny as it is outrageous, this story, first published in the New Yorker, is a cautionary tale about control and ambition with plenty left to tell us about today.

Key themes: Absurdity, satire,

Why it’s made the list: Balancing deadpan humour with satirical commentary, I Bought a Little City provides plenty to mull over afterwards.

Moonlit Landscape with Bridge by Zadie Smith (2014)

A high-ranking politician of an unnamed country attempts to escape his homeland after a storm ravages it. Moonlit Landscape with Bridge is one of Smith's greatest short stories: a subtle meditation on memory and power with a tense conclusion.

Key themes: Human nature, power, moral ambiguity

Why it’s made the list: Reflecting on moral and ethical complexities against a political backdrop, Moonlit Landscape with Bridge is a quiet yet unwavering look at the friction between power and humanity.

Minutes of Glory by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (2019)

Beatrice doesn't know who she is, or who she wants to be. Working a dead-end job in a bar, she dreams of being rich, having expensive clothes and being famous. But, of course, things don't always turn out the way we want them to. One of Ngũgĩ's best-loved stories, Minutes of Glory finds the author at his most hilarious and poignant.

Key themes: Identity, gender roles, marginalisation

Why it’s made the list: A compassionate look at someone struggling on society’s margins, Minutes of Glory is an incisive portrait of humanity.

Frequently asked questions

How long are short stories?

There is no definitive length of a short story, although it’s generally thought that stories under 7,500 words fit the bill. However, this is not an exact science, and there are examples of short stories going over this word count.

Who is considered the best short story writer?

This is a controversial question with no clear answer, as the best short story writer ultimately comes down to subjective preferences and personal taste.

That being said, many of history's notable novelists have tried their hand at the short story: James Joyce, Carson McCullers, and Ian McEwan, arguably best known for their novels, can all be accessed in different ways through their short fiction.

Some writers are even best known for their prowess in this form – think of John Cheever, Katherine Mansfield and Tessa Hadley. Then there are modern writers such as Lauren Groff, Daisy Johnson, and Ottessa Moshfegh, who have produced some of the most critically acclaimed collections of recent years.

Why are short stories popular?

There are many reasons why short stories are so popular. First of all, they encompass a wide range of genres, appealing to all sorts of readers. And, perhaps most importantly, their fast pace makes them ideal for readers short on time.
There’s also something to be said about the skill that goes into writing a great short story. With less time to develop characters and narrative, the thoughtful use of literary techniques and language can be just as enjoyable as the plot itself. As Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Steven Millhauser puts it in his essay, The Ambition of the Short Story: “the short story apologises for nothing. It exults in its shortness.”

The best short stories ever written

Best horror short stories

Best thriller short stories

Best short stories about love and romance

Best classic short stories

Best short stories for adults

Frequently asked questions

How long are short stories?

Who is considered the best short story writer?

Why are short stories popular?

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