My mistress's sparrow is dead - Jeffrey Eugenides

A wide-ranging and eclectic collection of short stories on the theme of love in its various forms: romantic, erotic, impossible, undying and exhausted.

No other aspect of the human experience regularly inspires such an outpouring of poetry, prose and philosophy as love. From passionate declarations to clinical analysis, writers of every age have been fascinated, tormented and inspired by love.

This beautifully produced collection of short stories will combine the best of contemporary and classic fiction on the theme of love, from Catullus to Alice Munro. Edited and introduced by the Pulitzer prize-winning author of 'Middlesex', this wonderfully heterodox look at love will include, amongst others, 'A Rose for Emily' by William Faulkner, 'The Lady with the Lapdog' by Anton Chekhov and 'The Dead' by James Joyce, as well as stories by Lorrie Moore, Milan Kundera and Guy de Maupassant, and historical selections ranging from the letters of Heloise and Abelard to examples of courtly love.

'The Greatest Love Stories of All Time' will be the perfect gift for Valentine's Day 2008 - elegant, covetable and timeless.