Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

Every Sunday, an elderly woman puts on her fur necklet and goes to the park, where she listens to the band and imagines herself part of a grand theatrical performance. Her cheerful illusion is shattered when she overhears a cruel remark about her from two young lovers. The story’s plot is brief but devastating, ending in emotional collapse. Mansfield masterfully reveals the fragility of fantasy and the pain of exclusion. It’s one of her most famous and heartbreaking portraits of loneliness.