All Articles

This short story is about the close bond between a mother and her baby daughter. They often play hide and seek together but an old servant tells them that doing so will lead to great sadness. Of course, the mother doesn't believe her but she can't stop herself from becoming afraid. (2,900 words)

In the past, most people living quiet lives in the countryside never left the small towns they worked in. They lived, worked and expected to die near to the people they had known all their lives. The old widow in this story wanted the same but had to leave her farm to start a new life. (2,310 words)

This excellent short story explores the injustices that slavery created. A brave lawman refuses to allow his neighbours to hang an Afro-American suspected of committing murder in a small town after the American Civil War. However, the sheriff has a secret in his past that the crime is about to reveal. (5,000 words)

A statue of a prince who lived a very careless life, interested only in luxury and pleasure, becomes aware of the sufferings of the poor from the top of his pillar and decides he wants to help. Luckily, he finds a bird to carry out his plans. (3,050 words)

Sherlock Holmes is not usually interested in the stories of young ladies. As he says himself, Dr. Watson is more of an expert in that area. However, in this story, he makes an exception because he is worried about the girl’s safety. Find out how Holmes and Watson save her from a clever trick and some very nasty characters. (5,365 words)

This sad but gripping story is about an old woman who, all her life, has been the victim of poverty and unkindness. She is invisible, living outside her community, expecting nothing and getting only that. (3,420 words)

Holmes is called to prove the innocence of a young man accused of murdering his father. The case seems clear-cut but, of course, there is more to it than is immediately obvious and he needs to investigate the past of the victim in Australia to discover the truth. (5,310 words)

Honour is a way of life in islands like Corsica. Hospitality is given to anyone who needs it but the treatment of people who break the unwritten rules is harsh and unforgiving. So what will the man in this story do when he returns home to find that his son has shamed him. (3,015 words)

This very short Kate Chopin story is about a young married woman, who is told her husband has died in a train accident. Although she's upset, she also believes that she will now be able to live her own life. (825 words)

Aho’s story is now a phrase in the Finnish language, meaning new things are not always better than old ones. A farmer in the cold countryside of Finland is the first to stop using wood to light his home when he buys a lamp. Everyone is impressed except the old wood cutter. (2,700 words)

A top lawyer leaves his job, wife and home after he suddenly loses his memory. He has had a normal life but only really living for his work. Suddenly, all that changes when he wakes up on a train with thousands of dollars in his pocket. (2,445 words)

Arthur Conan Doyle is famous for crime fiction but he also wrote science fiction and was well-known for his bad-tempered scientist, Professor Challenger. Here’s a story about how he saves the world! (2100 words)

In this tale by Nobel Prize winning author Rabindranath Tagore a seven-year-old boy is told a story by his grandmother in which a king decides his daughter should marry the next person he sees. That turns out to be a young boy so she looks after him and prepares him to be her husband. (1,820 words)

In this powerful tale of official unfairness, the Russian writer, Garshin, describes how a railway employee takes revenge when he is badly treated by a senior official and its tragic consequences. (2,825 words)

Chekhov's tale of an unlikely marriage between an older, poorly educated man and the beautiful daughter of a church caretaker who tries to make sure she can stay in her home after his death. The husband is jealous of his attractive wife and convinces himself that she can change the weather to get young men to visit their home. (3,290 words)