V. S. Pritchett (1900-1997) was one of the most subtle, potent and best-loved of modern British writers, an unparalleled story-teller and biographer and essayist of unique humour and insight. This volume contains an engrossing and lively collection of his autobiographical, travel and critical writings and a selection of the humorous and poignant short stories for which he is most remembered. It includes extracts from A Cab at the Door and Midnight Oil, as well as literary criticism on a range of writers from George Eliot and Balzac to Chekov and Turgenev.

Edited by his son, Oliver, The Essential Pritchett is a tribute to a lifetime of writing.