Classic Literature Short Stories

A collection of Kate Chopin’s best-known work, including “The Awakening” and seven additional short stories.

Sherlock Holmes was created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard. Holmes first appeared in print in 1887's A Study in Scarlet, the character's popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891.

In Agatha Christie’s “The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan,” Poirot and Hastings are called on to solve the case of Mrs. Opalsen’s missing set of pearls, apparently stolen during a stay at the Grand Metropolitan Hotel. The two suspects are Mrs. Opalsen’s maid and the hotel chambermaid, but both blame the other. Who is the real thief? This short story originally appeared in the March 14, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

Riuniti in raccolta dallo stesso Buzzati questi racconti brevi rappresentano una vera "summa" del mondo poetico dello scrittore, uno dei maestri nella narrativa italiana contemporanea.

Though The Arabian Nights are generally known as stories for children, they were originally tales for adults full of adventure, sexuality, violence, and the supernatural. They certainly inspired the imagination of Sir Richard Burton, the 19th century explorer, linguist, and erotologist who brought all his worldly experience and superbly expressive prose style to bear on the tales of Sindbad the Seaman and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

The title work in this collection of ten short stories and poems is widely regarded as the most famous of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings. This unsettling tale in verse tells of a man’s slow descent into madness as he mourns the loss of his lover. The mysterious visit of a talking raven that utters only one word sparks the man’s steady decline.

El Regalo de los Reyes Magos es una tierna historia de amor e ironía navideña. En ella, una pareja joven y empobrecida, Della y Jim, desean fervientemente comprar regalos perfectos el uno para el otro. En un giro conmovedor del destino, Della vende su hermosa cabellera para comprar una cadena para el reloj de Jim, mientras él vende su preciado reloj para comprar peinetas para el pelo de Della.

This is a collection of stories about interesting, unusual, bright human characters and destinies. Contents: Gusev by Anton Chekhov ; Boule de Suif by Guy De Maupassant ; Alyosha the Pot by Leo Tolstoy ; Mateo Falcone by Prosper Mérimée ; Little Brother by Mary E. Mann ; Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville ; The Lightning-Rod Man by Herman Melville ; The Ambitious Guest by Nathaniel Hawthorne ; The Darling by Anton Chekhov ; A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert

This unforgettable, very short fictional memoir relates the incredible suffering of Gershon and his Jewish family in Europe. The inspirational short, historical fiction story about a survivor, tells the remarkable courage and determination during his struggle to survive. With the onset of World War II, Gershon’s life changes completely. His loving family understands that their happiness has come to a brutal end when forced out of their home and into a ghetto. They have no idea what awaits them, but they know that doing nothing is not an option.

Written some 40 years after Moby Dick, Melville's Billy Budd is a moving tale of good versus evil. Set aboard a British navy ship at the end of the eighteenth century, a young, innocent sailor's charm and good nature put the men around him at ease. Ship life agreed with Billy. He made friends quickly and was well liked, which infuriated John Claggart, the ship's cold-blooded superior officer.

Premchand's literary career started as a freelancer in Urdu. In his initial short stories, he has depicted the patriotic upsurge that was sweeping the country in the first decade of the 19th century and wrote of the life around him and made his readers aware of the problems of the urban middle class and the country's villages. With Premchand's versatile writing skill, the stories took a valuable space in Indian literature. This book is an integration of 41 stories by Premchand.

Set 10 years after Little Men, Jo's Boys revisits Plumfield, the New England school still presided over by Jo and her husband, Professor Bhaer. Jo's Boys — including sailor Emil, promising musician Nat, and rebellious Dan — are grown. Jo remains at the center of this tale, holding her boys fast through shipwreck and storm, disappointment...and even murder.

A classic work that has charmed generations of readers, this collection assembles Carson McCullers' best stories, including her beloved novella The Ballad of the Sad Cafe. A haunting tale of a human triangle that culminates in an astonishing brawl, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable southern woman whose cafe serves as the town's gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also includes "Wunderkind", McCullers' first published story, written when she was only 17, about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist.

This dark story, set in medieval Austria, hinges on unearthly and hidden mental powers. It also gives an insight to the author's psyche during his final days.

The other stories in this edition include "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg", "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", "The Story of the Bad Little Boy", "The Diary of Adam and Eve", "Edward Mills and George Benton", "The Joke That Made Ed's Fortune", and "A Fable".

As the title suggests, this is a collection wonderful classic short stories with a twist at the end!

Сказки для детей – важный инструмент формирования их психики и мировосприятия. Повседневная жизнь часто кажется скучной и предсказуемой: семья, друзья, детский сад. Но где в этом мире место для чудес, приключений и полета фантазии? Слушая сказки, мальчики и девочки попадают в мир невозможного, где можно проходить сквозь стены, сражаться с драконами и спасать множество людей и сказочных существ. Даже самое большое зло в сказке может обернуться добром.

A towering figure in the pantheon of twentieth-century literature, Thomas Mann has often been perceived as a dry and forbidding writer—"the starched collar," as Bertolt Brecht once called him. But in fact, his fiction is lively, humane, sometimes hilarious. In these fresh renderings of his best short work, award-winning translator Damion Searls casts new light on this underappreciated aspect of Mann's genius.

What would you trade for the secret to unimaginable fortune? In Alexander Pushkin's The Queen of Spades, an ambitious young officer becomes entangled in a web of greed, mystery, and the supernatural, all centered around the fateful queen of spades. Set in the glittering salons and shadowy streets of St. Petersburg, this story unravels with a mix of elegance and unease. Pushkin's sharp storytelling brings to life characters who are as unpredictable as the hands they're dealt—where ambition collides with madness, and destiny plays its cruelest game.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. Whether they hail from the Lowlands or the Highlands, to be a Scottish author is to part of a quite an extraordinary band of authors and its literary traditions. These beguiling stories example the full range and majesty of their talents and the subjects they explore.

One of the earliest feminist works in American literature, "The Awakening" tells the story of Edna Pontellier. Unsatisfied with societal expectations and unhappy with her family life, she begins to fall in love with the dapper Robert Lebrun. Lebrun's flirtations, along with the lifestyle of renown musician Mademoiselle Reisz, rejuvenates Edna's sense of freedom and independence. However, an affair with the womanizer Alcee Arobin provides Edna with a taste of the danger that comes from living outside of social convention.