“Bliss” is a short story by New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield, first published in 1918 in the English Review. It follows Bertha Young, a thirty-year-old mother overcome with expectant bliss the day she hosts a small dinner party. Though Bertha is unsure exactly what she expects, she feels something wonderful will happen soon.

On her walk home, Bertha finds herself giddy with excitement. While she wishes to act out these feelings, she knows that social mores prevent her from doing so. She questions the point of having a body if she is not permitted to use it as she desires.

Bertha checks on the newly delivered fruits at home and arranges them on the dining table to bring out the room’s colors. The resulting scene enthralls her. However, she dismisses this upswell of emotion as hysteria and heads for the nursery.

In the nursery, she watches enviously as the Nanny feeds her infant daughter. Again, she questions the point of having something she is not allowed to enjoy, like birthing a child, only for it to be reared by another woman. Insisting on feeding the child herself, she is once more filled with bliss as she admires its beauty. However, she remains unsure how to express these feelings. The Nanny notifies Bertha that she is wanted on the telephone and seizes back the child as if it were her own.

On the phone, Bertha’s husband, Harry, informs her that he will come home late. For a moment, Bertha wishes she could share her feelings with her husband but decides not to.

While cleaning up in the drawing room, Bertha observes the garden through the window. Seeing a tall and beautiful pear tree in bloom leaves a deep impression on her. Even as she tries to calm herself down and presses her hands to her eyes, the image of the tree perseveres in her mind as a “symbol of her own life.” She seems to have everything: a loving husband, a child, a house, money, and friends.

One by one, the expected party arrives: Mr. and Mrs. Norman Knights, the young poet Eddie Warren, and her husband, Harry. Also included in her guests is Pearl Fulton, a beautiful woman Bertha had met at the club. Bertha believes she shares an unspoken connection with Miss Fulton, one waiting to be uncovered.

As the group eats dinner and discusses the theater, Harry ravenously feasts on “the white flesh of the lobster.” Meanwhile, Bertha continues to imagine an exclusive, shared feeling with Miss Fulton. She feels able to instantly read Miss Fulton’s mind. This rare and special connection leads Bertha to expect Miss Fulton to give some kind of “sign.”

Eventually, Miss Fulton “gives the sign” when she asks if they have a garden. Bertha pulls the curtains apart, and the two share a rapt moment, admiring the pear tree illuminated by the moon.

Convinced by his behavior that Harry dislikes Miss Fulton, Bertha chides her husband and plans to explain the special connection she shares with her. However, the thought of being alone in bed with him causes her to panic. She immediately starts playing the piano. Spiraling from these confused feelings, she wonders if the bliss she had been feeling all day leads her to Harry. This would mark the first time she ever felt desire for her husband.

At the end of the party, the Norman Knights leave, and Harry insists on escorting Miss Fulton out. Bertha and Eddie remain in the drawing room and talk about poetry. From her position, Bertha glimpses a private moment down the hall between Miss Fulton and her husband. By reading their lips, she realizes that they’re having an affair.

Miss Fulton says goodbye to Bertha and again compliments her on her pear tree. Eddie leaves, and Harry cleans up for the evening. The story ends with Bertha, uncertain about the future, going to the windows and observing the flowering pear tree.