Chatto Book Love Stories

Fourteen expertly crafted stories culled from the publisher's 150-year-old backlist explore facets of love. Without an ounce of overblown romance or treacly sentiment in the lot, portrayals of love range from the taboo (Sylvia Townsend Warner's ``A Love Match'') to the comic (R.L. Stevenson's ``The Sire de Maletroit's Door'') to the dark and unexplainable (Alice Munro's ``Fits''). Women writers are well represented, but the collection favors British heavyweights (Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf and V.S. Pritchett) with a few Americans, continentals and one Canadian included. Despite the rather limited scope of social and ethnic inclusion, these masterly works are each immensely enjoyable. A major omission is a page identifying the contributors; older readers will recognize their names and reputations, but others may not be as familiar with the artists represented here. (Oct.)