Publisher: Sovereign
Would you go into voluntary solitary confinement for 15 years in order to get rich? And more importantly what would happen to you in the end? Our protagonist, the banker agrees to pay millions to a young lawyer who believes he can stay locked for 15 years in exchange for multimillion reward. The bet does go ahead, but what it leads to both surprises and frightens the banker.
O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings.'A Newspaper Story' is an ingenious tale about a lost newspaper blowing through the streets of New York. Each passer-by who comes into contact with any part of it is personally impacted by one of the stories in the paper - but not in the way one would expect.Show book
The Gambler is a psychologically probing novel concerning the gambling episodes, tangled love affairs, and complicated lives of Alexis Ivanovitch, a young gambling addict; Polina Alexandrovna, the woman he loves; a pair of French adventurers; and other characters. Narrated by Alexis, this short novel is based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's own experiences as a compulsive gambler. Like so many characters in Dostoevsky's novels, Alexis is trying to break through the wall of the established order and the human condition itself, but instead he is drawn into the vortex of the roulette wheel.This version of The Gambler is the translation by C. J. Hogarth.Show book
The Enchanted Knife' is the story of a young man who seeks to marry the princess. Her father sets him an impossible task to perform before he will grant the suit - but with the aid of the cunning princess and a magic knife, the youth is able to win his bride.Show book
Mary Gleed Tuttiett was born and brought up in Newport on the Isle of Wight on 11th December 1846. She was largely self-educated but of determined character to achieve something with her life. As a young woman she travelled in England and Switzerland working as a governess despite bouts of ill-health. During her writing career her health deteriorated, mainly due to asthma and rheumatism, to such an extent that she was unable to leave her bed for more than a few hours a day. Mary began her literary career by contributing essays, poems, articles, and short stories to various periodicals of the times. In common with several other women of the time she wrote under a male pseudonym, that of Maxwell Gray, and which in literary terms at least, has removed any trace of her life as Mary. Her first novel, ‘The Broken Tryst’, arrived in 1879 to little attention or sales. Mary’s first critical and popular success did not arrive until 1886 with the novel ‘The Silence of Dean Maitland’, an unorthodox ecclesiastical story which was to be later adapted for the stage and screen. With this recognition came a far more prolific output with several of her other works set in a fictionalised Isle of Wight. As well as novels there were collections of short stories and several poetry anthologies. Mary was strongly supportive of women’s rights and the suffragist cause and was one of several writers who petitioned in support of the Women’s Suffrage Bill in 1910, and she wove these and other social themes into several of her novels. After her father's death in 1895, she moved to London and remained there until her own death on 23rd September 1923, aged 76. Her short story ‘An Unexpected Fare’ is a classic fish out-of-water story. A rich, entitled young man has designs on a young woman of a class below his. Wanting to find out more about her he takes on the job of a cabbie, common accent and all, as a way to discover more.Show book
This is a short story about a lawyer with offices on Wall Street in New York City. He runs an advertisement for a scrivener, or professional copyist, for his office and Bartleby responds to his advertisement and comes to work for the lawyer. At first Bartleby appears to be a competent worker, but later he refuses to work when requested, repeatedly uttering the phrase "I would prefer not to." As Bartleby's behavior escalates, the lawyer is confronted with how he will handle and respond to this bizarre behavior. In 2001, the story was adapted into a movie titled "Bartleby".Show book
Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction and a close associate of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. 'Sixpence' is the story about Edwardian parents faced with a dilemma: whether or not to whip their misbehaving little son. Will corporal punishment hurt the parents or the child more?Show book
