Katherine Mansfield, born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp on October 14, 1888, in Wellington, New Zealand, emerged as one of the most innovative short story writers of the 20th century. Growing up in a prosperous colonial family, she was the third of five children. Her idyllic childhood in Thorndon was marked by a love for nature and music, but also by a sense of alienation in the rigid society of colonial New Zealand.

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on February 2, 1882, in Dublin, Ireland, into a large Catholic family. Educated at Jesuit schools, he excelled academically but rebelled against religion and nationalism, eventually rejecting both.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, born on August 30, 1797, in London, was destined for a life immersed in radical ideas. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, the pioneering feminist author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, died just days after giving birth.