The short stories of Saki give brief but dazzling glimpses into the lives of the Edwardian rich: a class that virtually disappeared with the advent of the First World War.

In the splendour of Edwardian drawing rooms we encounter the opinionated and divinely dressed Reginald, the acid-tongued sophisticate Clovis and a host of other wealthy and well'to-do Englishmen and women from duchesses and dowagers to great-aunts, nannies and a talking cat. With delicious malice, Saki portrays the follies, eloquence, tradition and foibles of his characters. In a style that brings to mind the wit of Oscar Wilde, the satire of Swift and the macabre humour of Waugh, these stories nevertheless demonstrate that Saki's voice was uniquely his own: wickedly amusing and as sharp and sparkling as cut glass.