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  The Severed Hand

  Wilhelm Hauff

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  The narrator, Zaleukos, a native of Constantinople, studied medicine in Paris and, following his father's death, develops a successful business as a travelling merchant and healer.Arriving in Florence, he sets up shop as usual. But after he has been in town a few days, he finds a small handwritten note from an unknown stranger, asking to meet him at midnight on the Ponte Vecchio. Curious, he goes to the bridge in question, but ends up tussling with the stranger and comes away with the man's red cloak. Attempting to lure the cloak's owner, by putting it on sale for an extortionate price in his shop a new incident soon occurs which results in him being passed another mysterious note, again asking for a meeting on the same bridge as before. This time, the purpose of the meeting becomes clear...but it is a very odd request, indeed, although financially well rewarded. But as Zaleukos is drawn into the intrigue, his mission takes on a far more horrible character, and before long he has committed an awful crime and is in imminent peril of his life.

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  The Old Nurse's Story

  Elizabeth Gaskell

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  Elizabeth Gaskell was a regular contributor to Charles Dickens's weekly magazine, Household Words, from 1850 through to 1858. In addition to three serialized novels, Cranford, North and South, and My Lady Ludlow, Dickens published 18 shorter works by Gaskell, which made her the major literary contributor to the magazine apart from Dickens himself. This collection brings together all of the short stories and non-fiction pieces that Gaskell published in the magazine between 1850 and 1853.The Old Nurse's Story, is a ghostly tale taken from this collection.

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  Frida or The Lover's Leap

  R.D. Blackmore

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  The short story is often viewed as an inferior relation to the Novel.  But it is an art in itself. To take a story and distil its essence into fewer pages while keeping character and plot rounded and driven is not an easy task.  Many try and many fail.   Blackmore was one to succeed as this audiobook ably demonstrates. 
   
  Richard Doddridge Blackmore was born on 7 June 1825 at Longworth in Berkshire (now part of Oxfordshire), where his father, John Blackmore, was Curate-in-charge of the parish. His mother died a few months after his birth the victim of an outbreak of typhus. With this loss, the family moved to Bushey, Hertfordshire, then on to their native Devon.  With much of his childhood spent in the lush and pastoral "Doone Country" of Exmoor, and along the Badgworthy Water, Blackmore came to love the very countryside he immortalised in Lorna Doone. In November 1853 he married his wife Lucy.  And the following year, 1854, his literary career began with a collection of Poems and for the next 15 years he would write in the winters and garden in the summers. 
   
  In 1860 with inherited money he built a house in Teddington just outside of London and established a market garden for the cultivation of fruit.  He loved horticulture but having little business experience could never really exploit it. In these short stories collected here, much of that countryside comes through to counterpoint the strong characters he creates. RD Blackmore died at Teddington on 20 January 1900 after a long and painful illness, and was buried next to his wife in Teddington cemetery.

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  Nai Purani Kahanian

  Intizar Hussain

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  Khat", "Agay Samander hai", "Shehr-e-Afsos", "Jataka Tales", "Janam Kahanian" and "Wo Jo Kho Gaye" Presented here a collection of  Folk Tales from his book 'Nai Purani Kahanian' 1) KATHA KAHANI - AAKHRI SAWAAL AAKHRI JAWAB 2 )KATHA KAHANI - RISHI AUR CHIRRYA 3)LOK KAHANI - CHHELA CHANBELI 4)LOK KAHANI - RAAZ KI BAAT 5)QAS AS KAHANI - MACHHLI, MAKRRI, MALIKA SABA AUR HAZRAT SULAIMAN

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  Instructions for the Drowning

  Steven Heighton

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  “To say Heighton is an immensely talented writer is true enough but insufficient ... As good a writer as Canada has ever produced.” — National Post
  		 
  The unforgettable last collection by the bestselling author of The Shadow Boxer
  		 
  A man recalls his father's advice on how to save a drowning person, but struggles when the time comes to use it. A wife’s good deed leaves a couple vulnerable at the moment when they’re most in need of security—the birth of their first child. Newly in love, a man preoccupied by accounts of freak accidents is befallen by one himself. In stories about love and fear, idealisms and illusions, failures of muscle and mind and all the ways we try to care for one another, Steven Heighton’s Instructions for the Drowning is an indelible last collection by a writer working at the height of his powers.

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  Edna Ferber: Old Lady Mandel

  Edna Ferber

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  Edna Ferber, the prize winning author who penned such blockbusters as Show Boat, Cimarron, and Giant, also wrote many delightful short stories about people and their foibles. Young people, old people, working people and retired people. This story is about an old lady who lives the good life with her circle of other ladies. A sweet tale of growing old but still being a strong person and enjoying many things.

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