Fiction

This powerful story is about a worried mother who is unhappy and ashamed in front of a guest at her home because she can't control her young son. Her guest tells her that his father should hit him so, desperate, she asks him to do so. Sadness follows. (1,880 words)

In this very short story, Bierce describes the funeral of a respected and important public figure. But as his friends stand around the coffin, it starts to move and something unexpected happens. (425 words)

A classic horror story about a magical force that can give the owner of the bottle it lives in three wishes. At first, the hero welcomes the bottle imp because it can give him the money he needs to make a start in life, to attract a wonderful girl and live a comfortable life. But soon things start to go very wrong. (7,100 words)

This popular ghost story tells the tale of a very old lady and the young girl who is paid to sit and watch her, get her food and drink and make sure she is happy. But the old lady is starting to lose her mind and, in her madness, she tells a terrible secret from her past. (4,220 words)

The strange story of a man’s relationship with his favourite pet black cat, an animal that follows him everywhere, even in the streets. But he starts to change and the bond between the cat and the man breaks down as his growing madness develop to its terrible conclusion. (1,650 words)

A young doctor, whose true love is the scientific study of beetles, answers an advertisement in the paper asking for a strong, brave young doctor interested in beetles for temporary work. It seems a strange job but he cannot afford to refuse the money. This is one of many Conan Doyle stories that does not include Sherlock Holmes. (3,655 words)

Henry van Dyke tells the story of a man who spends his holidays moose hunting. On his way home, he tells a train driver how he hunted a magnificent moose for days but just missed shooting it. In some ways, he is glad the moose got away but the story has surprise for everyone in the end. (2,580 words)

H. P. Lovecraft is best known for horror stories but here he mixes horror and science fiction in a tale of a strange, old Doctor who never leaves his apartment, which he keeps as cold as possible. Gradually, we realise why. (2,440 words)

In this story of romance and prejudice in the slave-owning South of 19th century America, an orphan called Désirée falls in love with a wealthy man. He’s mad about her and at first they’re in heaven. The dream dies when he realises their child is not white but there is a surprising twist at the end. (1,850 words)

This classic of feminist literature describes the treatment of a late nineteenth century doctor’s wife as she suffers a nervous breakdown. The reader only slowly understands her unhappiness, as Perkins Gilman uncovers piece by piece the obsession that is taking hold of her heroine. (5,350 words)

‘Counterparts’ is about an alcoholic who cares more for a drink than he does for his job or family. We can almost taste the whiskey and smell the pubs, as Joyce tells us of his night out in Ireland’s capital. At the same time, he explores the drinker's misery, shame and violence. (3,820 words)

Taken from James Joyce’s collection of short stories, ‘Dubliners’, ‘Eveline’ is about a girl who is torn between the duty she feels to her difficult but helpless father and the love she feels for a man who can give her a new life in a new country. (1,715 words)

This story, from Joyce’s collection of short stories called ‘Dubliners’, introduces the reader to two young men who are not as respectable as they should be. Exploiting girls by trading on their feelings, they enjoy themselves at their expense and seem to have no conscience about doing so. (2,800 words)

Edith Wharton's novels deal with the differences in society’s expectations of the behaviour of men and women. They often tend end tragically but this story focuses more comic attention on a woman who has two ex-husbands and describes what happens when they re-enter her new family’s life. (5,075 words)

Saki's miserable childhood, brought up by his aunts in a very strict home, is reflected in this story where a child’s life and imagination is suppressed by a thoughtlessly cruel guardian. It is told, however, with Saki’s usual sense of humour and ends with a surprise for the reader. (1,520 words)