In Katherine Mansfield's subtle and powerful story "The Garden Party", a wealthy family prepares to host the titular event. When they learn that their working-class neighbour has died, their young daughter Laura protests that the party should be called off; yet no one else agrees. Afterward, she visits the home of the deceased. Her brother encounters her later, alone, and through her despair he understands that his sister has come to recognise her own mortality.

This volume also includes two more of Mansfield's most admired and incisive stories: "The Fly", a quietly disturbing study of an older man who, after his dead son is suddenly evoked in conversation, still struggles to grieve; and "The Doll's House", a disquieting consideration of children, class, social alienation and bigotry.