The phrase "life's little ironies" is now proverbial, but it was coined by Hardy as the title for this, his third volume of short stories, including such classics as An Imaginative Woman and A
Tragedy of Two Ambitions. Unified by his quintessential irony, strong visual sense, and engaging characters, these stories deal with the tragic and the humorous, the metaphysical and the
magical. This edition is the first to be based on a critical examination of all available manuscript and printed versions of the texts.
