Showing titles in Anthologies & Short Stories

A genealogy test sparks a woman’s reflection on the two accounts of her life--the real one and the one she’s always told the world--in this poignant short story by Cheryl Strayed, the bestselling author of Wild. In 1964, teenage Geraldine Waters was sent away by her parents to an unwed mothers’ home, where she gave up her newborn for adoption. Ever since, she’s lived an alternative narrative. Decades later, it’s time for Geraldine to reconcile the telling of her life, to finally grieve, and to discover what happened to that part of her past that slipped away.

Ever worried that your golden years might be filled with moments of boredom? Picture yourself cozying up with stories so good they turn "another quiet evening" into "a walk down memory lane." From the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, & 80s to today, each story captures the essence of a different era, celebrating love, friendship, family, and the simple joys that make life beautiful. Whether you're reminiscing about the past or discovering these moments for the first time, this book is the perfect companion for a cozy afternoon.

Valentine Welburn has grown accustomed to her freedom in Calcutta. So when she reaches the gray shores of England to debut in her first London Season, she is irked by the conventions of high society. With her irrepressible spirit, unusual beauty, and a large fortune, the stage is set for gossip. Scandal and intrigue ensue when two men - the distinguished Lord Marbeck and the dashing, dangerous Sir Richard Brindley - appear on the scene.

"Sventurata è la terra che ha bisogno di eroi", scriveva Bertolt Brecht, ma è difficile credere che avesse ragione se poi le storie degli eroi sono le prime che sentiamo da bambini, le sole che studiamo da ragazzi e le uniche che ci ispirano da adulti. La figura del campione solitario è esaltante, ma non appartiene alla nostra norma: è l'eccezione. La vita quotidiana è fatta invece di imprese mirabili compiute da persone del tutto comuni che hanno saputo mettersi insieme e fidarsi le une delle altre.

What if...the person who caught you in your most embarrassing moment is also the one your heart was meant to find? It was never supposed to happen. Elizabeth Bennet never planned to get trapped in a ridiculous situation, and she certainly never intended for the person who found her to be a dizzyingly handsome...tall...and odiously haughty man who seems to regret ever meeting her. The only thing to do, naturally, is to tease him about it, and try not to let him under her skin.

A young woman’s night-time escapade goes eerily wrong. A man is forced to relive the horrible accident that tore his family apart over and over again. An underground thrill through ancient catacombs proves disastrously horrific. A young boy is haunted by the scarecrow in the fields behind his home. And a woman is revisited by the ghost of a psychotic killer in the most dreadful of ways. Scare Street brings you some of the best short horror stories by authors Ron Ripley, David Longhorn, Eric Whittle, Sara Clancy, and A. I. Nasser, all in one book.

Lavinia Spencer is too poor to be anything but practical. But when her younger brother lands himself in trouble, she has no choice but to do the unthinkable. She accepts the help of the dishonorable man that she's always wanted, even knowing that it might mean her ruination.

Uniquely disturbing and deeply erotic, this collection confirms Sarah Hall as one of the greatest writers of her generation. From the heathered fells and lowlands of Cumbria with their history of smouldering violence, to the speed and heat of summer London, to an eerily still lake in the Finnish wilderness, Sarah Hall evokes landscapes with extraordinary precision and grace.

Arnold Bennett was born in 1867 in Hanley one of the six towns that formed the Potteries that later joined together to become Stoke on Trent; the area in which most of his works are located. At the turn of the century he turned full time to writing and shortly thereafter in 1903 he moved to Paris and in 1908 published to great acclaim The Old Wives Tale. With this his reputation was set. Clayhanger and The Old Wives Tale are perhaps his greatest and most lauded novels.

The Mysterious Stranger is a novel by the American author Mark Twain. It tells the tale of three boys, Theodor, Seppi, and Nikolaus, who live relatively happy simple lives in a remote Austrian village called Eseldorf in 1590, and their meeting with a handsome stranger who, unknown to the boys, is Satan incarnate.

Jennet Preston was an ordinary woman with an extraordinary death. Pursued and vilified by her young lord and master, Thomas Lister, she was accused and tried - twice - for murder by witchcraft in 1612. This is the story of her second trial. A friend of the Device family of Malkin Tower, Jennet Preston’s story starts and ends in Yorkshire, yet is inextricably entwined with the most famous witch trial in British history - that of the Pendle Witches.

Alive with anecdote, this is a further wonderful companion for anyone who enjoys Scotland's heritage and tales of its gaunt and shadowy ruins.

On Ash Wednesday in 1908, Swiss German immigrant Fritz Hirter arrives at his children’s school, where he is the lone custodian. But soon after lessons start, a fast-moving fire breaks out—its cause is unknown, but its effects are horrifying. Although Fritz is soon cleared of any responsibility for the catastrophe, the community continues to suspect him, supremely testing Fritz and his family.

A tense and brilliantly dramatic short story from the best-selling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series. AD 238. Emperor Maximinus' reign is under threat as Gordian the Younger and Elder are proclaimed emperor. Julius Burdo, official of the empire, must accompany the knife-boy Castricius north to assassinate Maximinus. The order is from the new Augusti; death is a certain fate to both men whether they succeed or fail.

Una de las obras capitales del autor japonés Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, de la cual el director Akira Kurosawa tomó varios detalles a la hora de adaptar su película homónima, narra el encuentro de un sirviente humilde que acaba de ser despedido por su señor y una anciana pícara que roba el pelo de los cadáveres y vende carne de serpiente haciéndola pasar por pescado. El cuento, de final inesperado, supone una reflexión sobre los límites de la moral que sacudió a los lectores de la revista universitaria Teikoku Bungaku (Literatura imperial), donde fue publicada por primera vez.

In these buoyant and inventive stories, Karen Tei Yamashita transfers classic tales across boundaries and questions what an inheritance - familial, cultural, emotional, artistic - really means. In a California of the '60s and '70s, characters examine the contents of deceased relatives' freezers, tape-record high school locker-room chatter, or collect a community's gossip while cleaning the teeth of its inhabitants.

A tense and brilliantly dramatic short story from the best-selling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series. This thrilling short story opens at the end of Blood & Steel and is the perfect trailer for Harry Sidebottom's new novel, Fire & Sword. AD 238. When Gordian the Younger is brutally cut down at the battle of Carthage, his ally, Phillyrio, and a centurion from his army must make for the hills of Northern Africa to escape Maximinus' army.

Over the past decade, Simon Van Booy has been listening to people’s stories. With these personal accounts as a starting point, he has crafted a powerful collection of short fiction that takes listeners into the innermost lives of everyday people. From a family saved from ruin by a mysterious benefactor to a downtrodden boxer who shows unexpected kindness to a mugger, these tales reveal not only the precarious balance maintained between grief and happiness in our lives but also how the echoes of personal tragedy can shape us for the better.

Los relatos que componen este audiolibro están considerados por muchos como lo mejor que se ha escrito en España sobre nuestra guerra civil. Redactados entre 1936 y 1937 y publicados inicialmente en varias revistas internacionales, retratan distintos sucesos de la guerra que Chaves Nogales conoció directamente: "Cada uno de sus episodios ha sido extraído fielmente de un hecho verídico; cada uno de sus héroes tiene una existencia real y una personalidad auténtica", dirá en el prólogo.

It's 1947. The Indian subcontinent is partitioned into two separate countries, India and Pakistan. And with one decree, countless lives are changed forever. An Unrestored Woman explores the fault lines in this mass displacement of humanity.