Other books that might interest you

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  Three Short Works

  Gustave Flaubert

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  Here is a collection of strikingly different pieces by Flaubert: a prose poem in the voices of Death, Satan and Nero; the trials and apotheosis of a medieval saint; and the life of a selfless maid in 19th century France. Each exhibits the vigorous exactness, and the mixture of realism and romanticism, for which Flaubert is renowned.

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  Juxtapositions

  Stacy Aumonier

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  One of Stacy Aumonier's best loved short stories, telling the story of a surprising evening with Colin St Clair Chasseloup: "the kind of man who always looked as though he had just had a cold bath, done Swedish drill, and then passed through the hairdresser’s on his way to your presence." Chasseloup and the narrator are dragged along by their wives to a concert which interests  neither of them. Both men make their escape from the concert, and decide to go for a drink, forgetting that it is a Sunday night and the pubs are closed. A dramatic, hilarious plot twist—and a revelation of the intriguing complexity of Chasseloup’s character—follows when Chasseloup becomes the victim of a bizarre case of mistaken identity.

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  The House of Haddock

  Arthur Morrison

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  Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. The House of Haddock is the humorous story of an old rogue whose formerly genteel family has fallen on hard times. A former ancestor of his once gave a set of almshouses to the village, and our anti-hero sets out to ensure that one of these is allocated to him.His first challenge is to get one of the existing tenants to leave. His initial attention is on dispatching an elderly disabled man with a bad cough, whose demise appears to be imminent and inevitable. But after the death of this individual, the church authorities allocate that almshouse to a youngish widow. This lady proves to be quite a challenge...and his strategy for taking possession of her house backfires spectacularly....

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  Edith Nesbit: The Ghost Stories

  Edith Nesbit

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  Edith Nesbit is more famously known as a writer of children’s stories such as The Railway Children.  But in this volume we explore her short stories of the macabre and ghostly sort.  Born in 1858 in Kennington, then part of Surrey and now London.  Her early life was one of constant house changes before meeting, age 17, Hubert Bland who she was to marry three years later – whilst she was 7 months pregnant.  Additionally Bland kept his affair with another woman going throughout.  The two children of this relationship were raised by Edith as her own as well as their own three.  They founded the Fabian Society in 1884.   Thought of as the first modern writer for children she also wrote for adults producing over 50 books in total as well as a collections of poetry which we shall explore in a separate volume.  These stories are brought to your ears in eerie detail by Ghizela Rowe, George Irving and Richard Mitchley.

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  Concerto to the Memory of an Angel

  Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

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  Stories from the bestselling author of The Most Beautiful Book in the World, “a prodigious storyteller with a style both elegant and assured” (Les Echos). 
   
  In this collection’s opening story, a woman with more skeletons in the closet than most falls in love with a parish priest, to whom she confesses her sins. But her motives and her intentions are anything but honorable or pious. The title story is the tale of two friends and rivals whose differences will at first lead to a terrifying and near fatal accident, and then to a vendetta lasting a lifetime. In “The Return,” while away at sea, a father is told that one of his four daughters has died but not which. He will ask himself the question no father should have to ask: which child would he want dead? His long ruminations will lead him to a realization of his failings as a man and a father and ultimately toward a touching transformation. “Love at the Elysée Palace” is as fine a short story as any in contemporary literature, and one that treats the themes of love, marriage, and forgiveness with superb delicacy and remarkable tenderness. 
   
  In this vivid collection, Schmitt writes about regret and redemption, about the roles of love and memory in our lives, all with a lightness and compassion that is as rare as it is inspiring. 
   
  “A wonderful book of remarkable everyday heroes who will haunt readers for a long time to come.” —L’Express 
   
  “A small masterpiece.” —Le Parisien

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  Holiday in a Stetson

  Marie Ferrarella, Tina Leonard

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  Untamed hearts discover the gifts of love and family in this anthology featuring two contemporary Western holiday romances. 
   
  The Sheriff Who Found Christmas by Marie Ferrarella 
   
  Former big city cop Lani Chisholm is determined to get Sheriff Garrett Tanner in the holiday spirit—especially since the sexy Scrooge became guardian to his niece. With a heart the size of Texas, Lani has more than enough love for Garrett and his little girl. And with some unexpected help from a tree hunt and a missing angel, a certain Western lawman just may discover his own Christmas miracle . . .  
   
  A Rancho Diablo Christmas by Tina Leonard 
   
  Trading kisses under the mistletoe is not what brought Johnny Donovan to Rancho Diablo. After all, he’s a diehard bachelor—and Jess St. John’s the most undomesticated woman in New Mexico. Then why does the petite horse trainer fill Johnny with such heart-soaring holiday spirit? The plan was to outsmart the Callahan matchmakers. Only, now it’s Johnny who’s hankering to get Jess to say yes. What’s a love-charmed Santa to do?

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