Another story which has changed since I read it as a young woman. I still admire the deftness with which Mansfield shows us the interior lives of a family group on holiday. But what I recalled is lightness, sunshine, her awareness of the preoccupations of children. Now there appear to be a number of shadowy narrative strands, some trouble in Paradise. If the Bay is Eden, then it is one that is more idyllic once Adam has gone away.(“Oh the relief, the difference it made to have the man out of the house.”) And in the story’s final scene a serpent – “You are vile, vile” – rears its ugly head.
First published in the London Mercury,1922. Collected in The Garden Party, Constable, 1922 and widely since then
A Personal Anthology 
How many refs to KM’s stories do I have to come across before finally reading one? I have no idea why I keep putting her off — maybe because I often confuse her with Katherine Anne Porter, whom I have a good bit? Bah, poor excuse. I’ll start with this one. Promise! (Talking to myself here.)
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Oh do read it. I’ve just looked back at the blog post I wrote when I first read it, and see that I wasn’t bowled over by the book in its earlier sections, but that at a certain point I sat up and started to take note. (link here – but don’t read all of it if you haven’t read the book! https://www.mhpbooks.com/the-art-of-the-novella-challenge-11-the-awakening/)
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Thanks for link, Jonathan, but it took me to Chopin’s The Awakening. Tried scrolling through your other posts for At the Bay, but gave up after several pages; please do send again or suggest other strategy for tracking it down. Anyhow, just finished it this morning and agree with your comment above, even more so, as I generally have no patience for any story, or novel, that opens with so much damn landscape description. I got so irritated with this example that I was ready to ditch the story and try another one from collection I found in library. Glad I stuck with it, as the story did grow on me, with the increasing sense of submerged despair and yearnings leaking out through imaginings that border on hallucinatory. I was fully engaged by the end. A good story. Now I can say I’ve read some KM! And the experience proved satisfying enough that I plan on reading others posted here.
BTW, the MPH site on novellas is quite the treasure trove. Look forward to reading your thoughts on several of my favorite long stories there.
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Tom, I do not know what was going through my head there. Completely muddled up Mansfield and Chopin. What a mess. Perhaps it was the coastal theme… About Mansfield I’m a bit on the fence. I do like some stories a lot, but none to distraction…
And yes do dig around the Novella blog series. It was a lot of fun doing that!
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