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Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century
Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century is a wonderful collection of classic stories specially selected and introduced by David Stuart Davies. These are tales from the golden age of the great storytellers presenting evocative snapshots from that bygone era while at the same time providing engaging entertainment and stimulation for the modern reader.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
David Stuart Davies
208 books141 followersDavid Stuart Davies was a British writer. He worked as a teacher of English before becoming a full-time editor, writer, and playwright. Davies wrote extensively about Sherlock Holmes, both fiction and non-fiction. He was the editor of Red Herrings, the monthly in-house publication of the Crime Writers' Association, and a member of The Baker Street Irregulars and the Detection Club.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 15, 2020
110th book of 2020.
A good varied collection here with a great selection of classic writers (as seen below). I had only read The Yellow Wallpaper previously, I believe, and love the story. Possibly, I have read the Chekhov before, though it didn't sound familiar. I’ve taken the time, rather than sum up every story, to write the first line, or two, of each story in the collection. Some don’t start with the ‘snappiness’ one expects from today’s writing, as the 19th century had yet to hit the modern insurgence of fiction, certainly short stories, starting in media res. Before the review falls into the stories, I will say something about the edition: I am not sure if it is aimed at children, but the introductions were simple and, throughout, the footnotes seemed to be for the most ridiculous and basic words. Words like chafed were footnoted to define the word as meaning ‘rubbed’. The most ridiculous one of the collection was in the Chekhov story. Lynx-like was footnoted and I laughed to myself, thinking, surely it won’t explain that this means it is like a lynx. I was wrong. Footnote: ‘like the whiskers of a lynx, which is a large cat.’ Well I never.
The Black Veil. Charles Dickens.
One winter’s evening, towards the close of the year 1800, or within a year or two of that time, a young medical practitioner, recently established in business, was seated by a cheerful fire in his little parlour, listening to the wind which was beating the rain in pattering drops against the window or rumbling dismally in the chimney.
The Withered Arm. Thomas Hardy.
It was eighty-cow dairy, and the troop of milkers, regular and supernumerary, were all at work; for, though the time of the year was yet but early April, the feed lay entirely in water meadows and the crows were ‘in full pail’.
The Story of a Terribly Strange Bed. Wilkie Collins.
Shortly after my education at college was finished, I happened to be staying at Paris with an English friend. We were both young men then, and lived, I am afraid, rather a wild life, in the delightful city of our sojourn.
The Bottle Imp. Robert Louis Stevenson.
There was a man of the island of Hawaii, whom I shall call Keawe; for the truth is, he still lives, and his name must be kept secret; but the place of his birth was not far from Honaunau, where the bones of Keawe the Great lie hidden in a cave.
The Red-Headed League. Arthur Conan Doyle.
I had called upon my friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. I was about to withdraw, when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
The Stolen Bacillus. H.G. Wells.
’This again,’ said the bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, ‘is a preparation of the celebrated bacillus of cholera – the cholera germ.’
The pale-faced man peered down the microscope. He was evidently not accustomed to that kind of thing, and held a limp white hand over his disengaged eye. ‘I see very little,’ he said.
The Squire’s Story. Elizabeth Gaskell.
In the year 1769 the little town of Barford was thrown into a state of great excitement by the intelligence that a gentleman (and ‘quite the gentleman,’ said the landlord of the George Inn) had been looking at Mr Clavering’s old house.
The Journey to Panama. Anthony Trollope.
There is perhaps no form of life in which men and women of the present day frequently find themselves for a time existing so unlike their customary conventional life as that experienced on board the large streamers. On the voyages so made, separate friendship are formed and separate enmities are endured.
The Sphinx Without a Secret. Oscar Wilde.
One afternoon I was sitting outside the Café de la Paix, watching the splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering over my vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that was passing before me, when I heard someone call my name.
The Judge’s House. Bram Stoker.
When the time for his examination drew near Malcolm Malcolmson made up his mind to go somewhere to read by himself. He feared the attractions of the seaside, and also he feared completely rural isolation, for of old he knew its charms, and so he determined to find some unpretentious little town where there would be nothing to distract him.
The Necklace. Guy de Maupassant.
She was one of those pretty and charming girls who, by some freak of destiny, are born into families that have always held subordinate appointments. Possessing neither dowry nor expectations, she had no hope of meeting some man of wealth and distinction, who would understand her, fall in love with her and wed her. So she consented to marry a minor clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction.
The Kiss. Anton Chekhov.
At eight o’clock in the evening of 20th May the six batteries of the U reserve artillery on its way to camp stopped for the night in the village of Mestechko.
The Yellow Wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity – but that would be asking too much of fate!
Juke Judkin’s Courtship. Charles Lamb.
I am the only son of a considerable brazier in Birmingham, who, dying in 1803, left me successor to the business, with no other encumbrance than a sort of rent-charge, which I am enjoined to pay out of it, of ninety-three pounds sterling per annum to his widow, my mother; and which the improving state of the concern, I bless God, has hitherto enabled me to discharge with punctuality.
One Dollar’s Worth. O. Henry.
The judge of the United States court of the district lying along the Rio Grande border found the following letter one morning in his mail:
A good varied collection here with a great selection of classic writers (as seen below). I had only read The Yellow Wallpaper previously, I believe, and love the story. Possibly, I have read the Chekhov before, though it didn't sound familiar. I’ve taken the time, rather than sum up every story, to write the first line, or two, of each story in the collection. Some don’t start with the ‘snappiness’ one expects from today’s writing, as the 19th century had yet to hit the modern insurgence of fiction, certainly short stories, starting in media res. Before the review falls into the stories, I will say something about the edition: I am not sure if it is aimed at children, but the introductions were simple and, throughout, the footnotes seemed to be for the most ridiculous and basic words. Words like chafed were footnoted to define the word as meaning ‘rubbed’. The most ridiculous one of the collection was in the Chekhov story. Lynx-like was footnoted and I laughed to myself, thinking, surely it won’t explain that this means it is like a lynx. I was wrong. Footnote: ‘like the whiskers of a lynx, which is a large cat.’ Well I never.
The Black Veil. Charles Dickens.
One winter’s evening, towards the close of the year 1800, or within a year or two of that time, a young medical practitioner, recently established in business, was seated by a cheerful fire in his little parlour, listening to the wind which was beating the rain in pattering drops against the window or rumbling dismally in the chimney.
The Withered Arm. Thomas Hardy.
It was eighty-cow dairy, and the troop of milkers, regular and supernumerary, were all at work; for, though the time of the year was yet but early April, the feed lay entirely in water meadows and the crows were ‘in full pail’.
The Story of a Terribly Strange Bed. Wilkie Collins.
Shortly after my education at college was finished, I happened to be staying at Paris with an English friend. We were both young men then, and lived, I am afraid, rather a wild life, in the delightful city of our sojourn.
The Bottle Imp. Robert Louis Stevenson.
There was a man of the island of Hawaii, whom I shall call Keawe; for the truth is, he still lives, and his name must be kept secret; but the place of his birth was not far from Honaunau, where the bones of Keawe the Great lie hidden in a cave.
The Red-Headed League. Arthur Conan Doyle.
I had called upon my friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. I was about to withdraw, when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
The Stolen Bacillus. H.G. Wells.
’This again,’ said the bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, ‘is a preparation of the celebrated bacillus of cholera – the cholera germ.’
The pale-faced man peered down the microscope. He was evidently not accustomed to that kind of thing, and held a limp white hand over his disengaged eye. ‘I see very little,’ he said.
The Squire’s Story. Elizabeth Gaskell.
In the year 1769 the little town of Barford was thrown into a state of great excitement by the intelligence that a gentleman (and ‘quite the gentleman,’ said the landlord of the George Inn) had been looking at Mr Clavering’s old house.
The Journey to Panama. Anthony Trollope.
There is perhaps no form of life in which men and women of the present day frequently find themselves for a time existing so unlike their customary conventional life as that experienced on board the large streamers. On the voyages so made, separate friendship are formed and separate enmities are endured.
The Sphinx Without a Secret. Oscar Wilde.
One afternoon I was sitting outside the Café de la Paix, watching the splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering over my vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that was passing before me, when I heard someone call my name.
The Judge’s House. Bram Stoker.
When the time for his examination drew near Malcolm Malcolmson made up his mind to go somewhere to read by himself. He feared the attractions of the seaside, and also he feared completely rural isolation, for of old he knew its charms, and so he determined to find some unpretentious little town where there would be nothing to distract him.
The Necklace. Guy de Maupassant.
She was one of those pretty and charming girls who, by some freak of destiny, are born into families that have always held subordinate appointments. Possessing neither dowry nor expectations, she had no hope of meeting some man of wealth and distinction, who would understand her, fall in love with her and wed her. So she consented to marry a minor clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction.
The Kiss. Anton Chekhov.
At eight o’clock in the evening of 20th May the six batteries of the U reserve artillery on its way to camp stopped for the night in the village of Mestechko.
The Yellow Wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity – but that would be asking too much of fate!
Juke Judkin’s Courtship. Charles Lamb.
I am the only son of a considerable brazier in Birmingham, who, dying in 1803, left me successor to the business, with no other encumbrance than a sort of rent-charge, which I am enjoined to pay out of it, of ninety-three pounds sterling per annum to his widow, my mother; and which the improving state of the concern, I bless God, has hitherto enabled me to discharge with punctuality.
One Dollar’s Worth. O. Henry.
The judge of the United States court of the district lying along the Rio Grande border found the following letter one morning in his mail:
January 6, 2018
The book is a collection of short stories selected and introduced by David Stuart Davies. It covers many of my favorite writers starting from Dickens and ending with O. Henry. Even Chekhov has not been forgotten. Although I would gladly have read something else as than “The Kiss” for the story is frankly not the best of Chekhov’s fiction. But this is compensated by the very fact that a Russian writer has been presented.
The stories provide for excellent entertainment, the result of a wonderful choice and taste of David Stuart Davies. By the way, introductions to every story are very informative; they include not only a sort of preface to a story, but give a snappy biography to every author condensed in a few paragraphs.
The short stories are mostly social dramas and most of them ending not happily. Even feminine fiction is gloomy. Cheerful exceptions are “One Dollar’s Worth” by O. Henry and maybe “The Bottle Imp” by Stevenson. Sherlock Holmes has been selected as a detective character solving the case of “The Red-Headed League”. In choosing the best story I can’t decide between “The Black Veil” by Charles Dickens and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Both are brilliant each in its own fashion but similar in a way that you never guess how they end.
The stories provide for excellent entertainment, the result of a wonderful choice and taste of David Stuart Davies. By the way, introductions to every story are very informative; they include not only a sort of preface to a story, but give a snappy biography to every author condensed in a few paragraphs.
The short stories are mostly social dramas and most of them ending not happily. Even feminine fiction is gloomy. Cheerful exceptions are “One Dollar’s Worth” by O. Henry and maybe “The Bottle Imp” by Stevenson. Sherlock Holmes has been selected as a detective character solving the case of “The Red-Headed League”. In choosing the best story I can’t decide between “The Black Veil” by Charles Dickens and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Both are brilliant each in its own fashion but similar in a way that you never guess how they end.
January 11, 2013
I picked this up in Hanoi airport to read on the plane and loved it. The selection introduced me to new authors (O Henry, Elizabeth Gaskell) as well as ones I'd only read one novel by (H G Wells, Oscar Wilde, Antony Trollope). It's really whet my appetite for short stories. My only criticism is with the introductions and notes - they appear written either for young kids or for people with English as a second language. The notes seem random - some old fashioned terms get a notation, others don't. Some of the explanations are wrong and some numbers don't correspond to any note! All in all, great writing, a great selection but poor editing by Wordsworth Classics.
July 10, 2026
As with any short story collection, some are better than others. On the whole I enjoyed the stories more as I got further into the collection.
Standouts were by Guy de Maupassant, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, O Henry, the title story and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Standouts were by Guy de Maupassant, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, O Henry, the title story and Arthur Conan Doyle.
July 20, 2026
This collection of stories from the 19th century offers eerie, bone-chilling, and disturbing tales, each accompanied by a candle of love and hope. (the introductions to each author and the accompanying notes were good; wish there were more stories from women.)
1)The Black Veil (Charles Dickens)
It’s a story about a young doctor who gradually uncovers the truth (the “black veil” initially serving as a means of concealment but eventually being lifted or exposed) from his first patient. As he delves deeper, he encounters poverty, sin, suffering, and a mother’s heart that refuses to let go of her son, who had been hanged for a crime. The story delves into the selfishness of a son who fails to understand his mother’s love and sacrifices in raising him amidst challenging circumstances. This ultimately leads him down a path of sins and wrong decisions. Through this encounter, the young doctor learns suffering, sorrow, shame, gratitude, kindness and care, “…amid all the honours of rank and station which have since been heaped upon him, and which he has so well earned, he can have no reminisce more gratifying to his heart than that connected with the black veil.”
P.S. the closed “yellow curtains” like the “yellow-wallpaper” representing dread, sickness and hidden insanity/sin.
2)The Withered Arm (Thomas Hardy)
Like a “gossip tale” of “have you heard…” or like a fairytale that has elements of “Snow White” and “The Wizard of Oz”… The young bride of Farmer Lodge’s arrives to a town filled with superstitious beliefs. There exists traditions of witches and witchcraft so it is not surprising that the young bride is being cursed by the former lover (The milkmaid—Rhoda Brook that also has a son) into disfigurement of an arm. Rhoda Brook pries on who the new bride is—like the evil “witch” queen—as if asking who is the “fairest” one of all. The young bride minds the imperfection since she wants to be in her husband’s good-graces and love. Since men think so much of a woman’s personal appearance—as if keeping an object in perfect condition. If their relationship did not deteriorate and society did not deem woman as only the sum of their looks, the story would not progress further since she would not mind. Years pass and the young bride becomes addicted to the mad and the witchery; trying to find a cure for herself—trying to fit the mold of society. When consulting with a conjurer, they recommend her to touch a man who’s been hanged. The young bride does not know that believing “smouldering village beliefs” will be the end of her. That it will literally turn her blood out of shock, shame, guilt, regret, physical and mental strain, and remorse. Since the innocently hanged man, that has been made an example of, is the son of Rhoda…The fate of Rhoda is another thing, who continues her cycle of milking-the-cow to the “rhythm of the alternating milk-streams”. She is of old age (everyone she cares about that the readers knows of is dead) and even when her form becomes bent and her hair becomes white and worn away (resembling the Snow White queen disguised as an old withered witch) she continues to live. The literal definition of “killing me softly”…
3)The Terribly Strange Bed (Wilkie Collins)
A young Englishman in Paris seeks a “poverty-stricken gaming, with no false gingerbread glitter thrown over it all…where they don’t mind letting in a man with ragged coat”. He seeks amusement out of boredom and leisure but soon becomes “gambling-drunk” and an easy prey to smother. After winning quite a lot of money, encouraged to drink and being drugged, he goes to sleep inside the establishment. Inside the room, he discovers that solitude makes the memories grow thicker. He recollects recollections like a dream, as if inside a trance. But this trance is short lived since the bed is moving and could crush him! After discovering his reckless behavior of confiding to people who had deceived him and attempted to kill him through this “bedstead machinery”, he decides to stop gambling permanently. Greed suffocates you as it does the people around you into murder!
4)The Bottle Imp (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Gift of wishes, an imp trapped in a bottle, a beautiful selfless woman and Keawe the man of the island of Hawaii…The story has elements of the “Arabian Night” tale. Can the acquisition of wealth solve all problems? A love story that showcases love’s selfishness (all for the sake of that person) and selflessness (not caring of one’s own fate). The catch with the bottle imp is it will give it your wishes but you have to sell it because “if a man die before he sells it, he must burn in hell for ever”. Keawe’s wish is to have the house of his dreams, “But with the house I’am saddled, and I may as well take the good along with the evil”. After selling it though to be with the love of her life without trouble he needs to acquire the bottle again but the price of the bottle (with each purchase it drops) becomes only 1 cent. How can he sell it? He will burn in hell. Her bride is not happy since his husband is in despair. After learning the story she says, “I shall save you with these hands, or perish in your company. What! you loved me and gave your soul, and you think I will not die to save you in return?” So they travel to country in which has money lesser than a cent. The bride makes a deal with a man to exchange the bottle and has the bottle now. In the end, Keawe learns of what her wife has done for him and tries to take back the bottle to acquire his cruel destiny but a sailor who believes he is already going to hell is happy to receive it. The end and peace to the main couple…
5)The Red-Headed League (Arthur Conan Doyle)
My first Sherlock Holmes story that showcases a scientific detective who solves cases by deduction rather than guessing or carelessness. This story is for the “red-headed folks”. If you have red-hair go join the Red-Headed League to earn extra cash for relatively easy work. But it was all a ploy for the criminals to make a tunnel to rob a bank. Of course there is more to the story, filled with clues and playing detective but some of Sherlock Holmes lines were so quotable I will leave it at that…”I know my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures.” “…for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination”(deduct rather than just guessing). “As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify” (the out of place is easy to detect when mixed with the common).”My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence”(want to be engrossed in the weird, eerie and the peculiar cases that makes me move them to the commonplaces).
6)The Stolen Bacillus (H.G. Wells)
Cab chase to save the world from an anarchist with a stolen bottle of cholera from the lab (bacillus—bacterium that causes disease by entering body: in this case the cholera germ). He plans to pour the contents into a reservoir. He wants to be known throughout the world. But the bottle cracks, so he decides to be the first victim and drinks it with the thought of “Long Live Anarchy!” The plot twist? The scientist was trying to astonish his guest, not knowing he was an anarchist. Apparently this species of bacterium has been tested on animals and they have turned blue. What bothers the scientist is that more people will want their pets or possibly themselves to turn blue as a trend or to look original…
7)The Squire’s Story (Elizabeth Gaskell)
A wealthy mysterious man (Mr Higgins) moves close to Barford into the grandest house: the “White House”. He paints the house pale yellow which already is a sign of a bad omen. He gets interested in the Squire’s only daughter and marries her—elopes with her in secret but to no one’s surprise. He is quite popular, the exception being an old woman called Miss Pratt. She cannot lure and entice her like others with the riding, the hunt, the wine, the songs and his well-liked stories. Then comes in Mr Dudgeon, the attorney of Barford, and the wannabe aristocrat. He builts himself a house that is the smaller version of a luxury house. Mr Higgins visits this house and learns of its riches— a strong-box containing the collected rents of landlords. Mr Higgins has the audacity to remind this man that their house was not over-secure to hold valuables. I mean you stole from the aspiring middle-class man although you appear to spend money as if drinking water…Then Mr Higgins tells a story to a Mr Davis that no one knows of: a murder at Bath of an old woman! It is obvious that the guilt is eating at him and he is scared senseless. He thinks no one will trace it back to him until some letters appears giving clues to the murderer. Miss Pratt is interested in the fate of the old lady since this lady is quite similar to her in age, circumstances and privately hoarded money. The Squire’s daughter becomes a widow after the hanging of his huband for murder and stealing and his father blames himself for promoting her marriage with a man of whom he knew so little about. They deem themselves as fools! Times pass and the “White House” has become like a story Mr Higgins would tell; a mysterious house that is like a tomb holding secret treasures of ill-gotten wealth…
8)The Journey to Panama (Anthony Trollope)
On a sea voyage, customary conventions can be overlooked and adjusted as seen fit. People become romantic among the discomforts that are generally short-lived and delusive. There is formalised and accepted cruelty for women at the time. They accept marriages arranged for them and do not seek to find true love. They accept the loneliness and even crave it. A Mr Forrest is on this ship who is a widower that has lost his wife. So it is without surprise that Miss Viner and him connect well under these circumstances even though at first they find each other intolerable, “You feel your own shoe when it pinches but do not realise the tight boot of your neighbour.” Miss Viner does not want to marry a man in Panama 20 years older than her but is penniless and without an option to reject. “That is the way in which women are always treated. They have no choice given them, and are then scolded for choosing wrongly.” Society and its company would not allow her rejection and would regard her with hostility, “I’m now bound to him. I have taken his money and have no escape. It is easy to say that a woman should not marry without love, as easy as it is to say that a man should not starve. But there are men who starve—starve although they work hard.” When they arrive in Panama, where she will marry but also wants to be free of the obligation, Mr Forrest learns that the man is dead and tells Miss Viner who now tastes freedom. Mr Forrest particularly has grown attached to Miss Viner but Miss Viner does not want none of that and they go their seperate ways; as if two independent ships drifting apart following a different compass with a faint rememberance of their friendship and what could have been…
9)The Sphinx Without a Secret (Oscar Wilde)
I have read this short story before and liked it.
A gentleman is sitting outside a cafe watching “the strange panorama of pride and poverty that was passing before” him, when he saw an old friend who had woman troubles.The man has fallen deeply in love with a woman that has the air of many mysteries. The man notices the lady through the lady’s yellow brougham (carriage). As the man starts to think there is another man involved with her, he becomes frantic and hurts her feelings. The lady dies soon after. Curious of the mystery, the man goes to the place the lady frequents. Apparently, she simply sat in the drawing-room, reading books and having some tea. The tale concludes with the revelation that the lady deliberately harbors a “mania for mystery,” “imagines herself as a heroine,” and “has a passion for secrecy, yet she herself is merely a sphinx without a secret.” This conclusion leaves the reader pondering whether it’s entirely accurate or if the lady harbors more undisclosed secrets…
10)The Judge’s House (Bram Stoker)
A mathematics scholar is searching for a place of solitude to study. He finds an old-haunted house called the “Judge’s House” which is literally the house of a judge that gave harsh sentences and known for his hostility. The house is filled with rats. Most of the rats sounds he gets used to and find it calming. However, when the rats cease to manifest themselves when the “great rat with the baleful eyes—came upon the scene”. This rat is without a doubt the Judge is disguise. He sits on the oak chair besides rhe fireplace and when attacked, flee up the rope of the alarm bell towards the third picture from the fireplace that has the painting of the judge inside the room. The rope was the rope used by the hangman for the victims the judge found guilty. Its a night with thunder and storm, the judge leaves the picture and reveals his true form to the scholar. His goal is to hang him up. The other rats could be the victims of the judge trying with no avail to help this helpless man but the judge wins, “A dreadful peal of thunder broke overhead as he raised the rope again, whilst the rats kept running up and down the bell-rope as though working against time.” The noose tightens, the scholar stands on top of the oak chair until its pulled away and the alarm bell of the Judge’s House began to sound. But no one can help the scholar no more, “There at the end of the rope of the great alarm bell hung the body of the student and on the face of the judge in the picture was a malignant smile.”
One of the most bone-chilling stories I have ever read…
11)The Necklace (Guy De Maupassant)
This is about a woman who desired to be decorated with the finest luxury. She did not want a humble life but one filled with splendor! This was her ambition, but that can only be achieved depending on her husband. She stays at home, sheltered and with her dreams. So when an invite comes to an event, she wants to wear expensive dresses and jewelry. The dress she acquires with the help of her husband’s sacrifice but she is depressed and dissatisfied without the ornaments, “No there is nothing more humiliating than to have an air of poverty among a crowd of rich woman.” She cares about other’s judgement and their judgements shapes her values and desires. Her inferiority complex runs deep. Her friend provides her with a “diamond necklace” and she trembles with desire and rapture. Some can call it greed and to an extent it is, but I think its an attempt to admire and love herself through the acceptance and desire of others due to one thing she can control: which is her appearance, “Carried away by her enjoyment, glorying in her beauty and her success, she threw herself ecstatically into the dance…all the desires she had kindled, all that complete and perfect triumph so dear to a woman’s heart.” However, disaster strikes when she loses that necklace. They find a similar necklace but it is not cheap. She becomes a dutiful “housewife” in order to pay it. It takes 10 years for them to pay it fully. She looks aged and neglected. But she still reminisces and dreams of the past…”But now and then, when her husband was at the office, she would sit by the window, and her thoughts would wander back to that faraway evening, the evening of her beauty and triumph. What would have been the end of it if she had not lost the necklace? Who could say? Who could say? How strange, how variable are the chances of life! How small a thing can serve to save or ruin you!” The plot twist? The diamond necklace was imitation and they brought a much more expensive necklace for the friend for a replacement. They suffered 10 years for nothing due to their pride and lack of communication with the friend. They cared too much of judgement to actually view other possibilities and outcomes…
12)The Kiss (Anton Chekhov)
When officers visit an old commanders dwelling, Riabovitch meets his idealized woman. He is shy and accepts his fate readily without a fight. He gets used to not getting what he desires. When he went to a room with supposedly no one around, suddenly a woman hugs him and kisses his cheek. This mysterious, unknown woman will be at the forefront of his mind since it brought unexpected joy and color into his dull life. Even though the woman imagined him to be someone else and the kiss was a mistake, this does not end his daydreaming, “With the ectasy of a dreamer, he pictured tiny feminine feet walking along the yellow path, and, unexpected, the image of the girl who had kissed him rose before his mind…”Towards the end, he comes back to reality as he no longer expects anything from this vague hope and disillusionment that he had crafted for himself, “He raised his eyes from the water and looked up at the sky; once more he remembered how fate, in the form of an unknown woman, had unexpectedly caressed him; he recalled his dreams and images of the summer, and his life appeared to him so poor, wretched and colourless…” Thus, he abandons the joy of dreaming since he has come to the conclusion that a dream is just a dream when it does not invite effort into the equation—and it seems he does not have the courage to bring real color into the dull but only a glimpse of it just for one time…
13)The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
I’ve read this story before and now know its from the author’s own experience…It’s one of the greatest short stories of all time. It is about women who are not listened to (mental illness “hysteria” seen as a woman’s disease if they show too much emotion) by even the people closest to them (they endure her, feign care) and have to “creep” around to maintain even a semblance of control and companionship; freedom is beyond the “yellow wallpaper” that feels like bars…
14)Juke Judkins’ Courtship (Charles Lamb)
The world has come to a point where we are all so individualistic and so in our own world, almost everyone to a degree, is like Juke Judkins’. We, us and they do not want to share the “greed” and we keep everything for ourselves. There is no real empathy left and most do not notice beyond their own walls. Even public morals, actions and rules are no longer followed. Why should we care about someone’s feelings? Especially a stranger? It is all about what “I” will gain from it and not what the “other” person will gain. I like how David Stuart Davies put it, “someone who is too blind to see that what he perceives as his virtues are in fact his failings.” Of course, parents also play a role and with social media and the world becoming more of “screens” such qualities that keep society close are no longer valued…The old, needed values will be forgotten or practiced by lesser and lesser people…
15)One Dollar’s Worth (O. Henry)
One life or one race is not better than the other. In this story we see 2 cases: One of Mexico Sam with his threatening letter and one of Rafael Ortiz with his counterfeit silver dollar. He is found guilty for one fake dollar but his girl says it was to get her medicine to live, “if the life of the girl you love is ever in danger, remember Rafael Ortiz”. Well, that threatening letter was not for show. To get out of the situation they use the counterfeit silver dollar and aim at the man. Thus? There is no evidence to convict Rafael Ortiz and he has saved the day yet again with his heart and kindness! Innocent shall prevail under conditions where there is someone who will take your side!
1)The Black Veil (Charles Dickens)
It’s a story about a young doctor who gradually uncovers the truth (the “black veil” initially serving as a means of concealment but eventually being lifted or exposed) from his first patient. As he delves deeper, he encounters poverty, sin, suffering, and a mother’s heart that refuses to let go of her son, who had been hanged for a crime. The story delves into the selfishness of a son who fails to understand his mother’s love and sacrifices in raising him amidst challenging circumstances. This ultimately leads him down a path of sins and wrong decisions. Through this encounter, the young doctor learns suffering, sorrow, shame, gratitude, kindness and care, “…amid all the honours of rank and station which have since been heaped upon him, and which he has so well earned, he can have no reminisce more gratifying to his heart than that connected with the black veil.”
P.S. the closed “yellow curtains” like the “yellow-wallpaper” representing dread, sickness and hidden insanity/sin.
2)The Withered Arm (Thomas Hardy)
Like a “gossip tale” of “have you heard…” or like a fairytale that has elements of “Snow White” and “The Wizard of Oz”… The young bride of Farmer Lodge’s arrives to a town filled with superstitious beliefs. There exists traditions of witches and witchcraft so it is not surprising that the young bride is being cursed by the former lover (The milkmaid—Rhoda Brook that also has a son) into disfigurement of an arm. Rhoda Brook pries on who the new bride is—like the evil “witch” queen—as if asking who is the “fairest” one of all. The young bride minds the imperfection since she wants to be in her husband’s good-graces and love. Since men think so much of a woman’s personal appearance—as if keeping an object in perfect condition. If their relationship did not deteriorate and society did not deem woman as only the sum of their looks, the story would not progress further since she would not mind. Years pass and the young bride becomes addicted to the mad and the witchery; trying to find a cure for herself—trying to fit the mold of society. When consulting with a conjurer, they recommend her to touch a man who’s been hanged. The young bride does not know that believing “smouldering village beliefs” will be the end of her. That it will literally turn her blood out of shock, shame, guilt, regret, physical and mental strain, and remorse. Since the innocently hanged man, that has been made an example of, is the son of Rhoda…The fate of Rhoda is another thing, who continues her cycle of milking-the-cow to the “rhythm of the alternating milk-streams”. She is of old age (everyone she cares about that the readers knows of is dead) and even when her form becomes bent and her hair becomes white and worn away (resembling the Snow White queen disguised as an old withered witch) she continues to live. The literal definition of “killing me softly”…
3)The Terribly Strange Bed (Wilkie Collins)
A young Englishman in Paris seeks a “poverty-stricken gaming, with no false gingerbread glitter thrown over it all…where they don’t mind letting in a man with ragged coat”. He seeks amusement out of boredom and leisure but soon becomes “gambling-drunk” and an easy prey to smother. After winning quite a lot of money, encouraged to drink and being drugged, he goes to sleep inside the establishment. Inside the room, he discovers that solitude makes the memories grow thicker. He recollects recollections like a dream, as if inside a trance. But this trance is short lived since the bed is moving and could crush him! After discovering his reckless behavior of confiding to people who had deceived him and attempted to kill him through this “bedstead machinery”, he decides to stop gambling permanently. Greed suffocates you as it does the people around you into murder!
4)The Bottle Imp (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Gift of wishes, an imp trapped in a bottle, a beautiful selfless woman and Keawe the man of the island of Hawaii…The story has elements of the “Arabian Night” tale. Can the acquisition of wealth solve all problems? A love story that showcases love’s selfishness (all for the sake of that person) and selflessness (not caring of one’s own fate). The catch with the bottle imp is it will give it your wishes but you have to sell it because “if a man die before he sells it, he must burn in hell for ever”. Keawe’s wish is to have the house of his dreams, “But with the house I’am saddled, and I may as well take the good along with the evil”. After selling it though to be with the love of her life without trouble he needs to acquire the bottle again but the price of the bottle (with each purchase it drops) becomes only 1 cent. How can he sell it? He will burn in hell. Her bride is not happy since his husband is in despair. After learning the story she says, “I shall save you with these hands, or perish in your company. What! you loved me and gave your soul, and you think I will not die to save you in return?” So they travel to country in which has money lesser than a cent. The bride makes a deal with a man to exchange the bottle and has the bottle now. In the end, Keawe learns of what her wife has done for him and tries to take back the bottle to acquire his cruel destiny but a sailor who believes he is already going to hell is happy to receive it. The end and peace to the main couple…
5)The Red-Headed League (Arthur Conan Doyle)
My first Sherlock Holmes story that showcases a scientific detective who solves cases by deduction rather than guessing or carelessness. This story is for the “red-headed folks”. If you have red-hair go join the Red-Headed League to earn extra cash for relatively easy work. But it was all a ploy for the criminals to make a tunnel to rob a bank. Of course there is more to the story, filled with clues and playing detective but some of Sherlock Holmes lines were so quotable I will leave it at that…”I know my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures.” “…for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination”(deduct rather than just guessing). “As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify” (the out of place is easy to detect when mixed with the common).”My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence”(want to be engrossed in the weird, eerie and the peculiar cases that makes me move them to the commonplaces).
6)The Stolen Bacillus (H.G. Wells)
Cab chase to save the world from an anarchist with a stolen bottle of cholera from the lab (bacillus—bacterium that causes disease by entering body: in this case the cholera germ). He plans to pour the contents into a reservoir. He wants to be known throughout the world. But the bottle cracks, so he decides to be the first victim and drinks it with the thought of “Long Live Anarchy!” The plot twist? The scientist was trying to astonish his guest, not knowing he was an anarchist. Apparently this species of bacterium has been tested on animals and they have turned blue. What bothers the scientist is that more people will want their pets or possibly themselves to turn blue as a trend or to look original…
7)The Squire’s Story (Elizabeth Gaskell)
A wealthy mysterious man (Mr Higgins) moves close to Barford into the grandest house: the “White House”. He paints the house pale yellow which already is a sign of a bad omen. He gets interested in the Squire’s only daughter and marries her—elopes with her in secret but to no one’s surprise. He is quite popular, the exception being an old woman called Miss Pratt. She cannot lure and entice her like others with the riding, the hunt, the wine, the songs and his well-liked stories. Then comes in Mr Dudgeon, the attorney of Barford, and the wannabe aristocrat. He builts himself a house that is the smaller version of a luxury house. Mr Higgins visits this house and learns of its riches— a strong-box containing the collected rents of landlords. Mr Higgins has the audacity to remind this man that their house was not over-secure to hold valuables. I mean you stole from the aspiring middle-class man although you appear to spend money as if drinking water…Then Mr Higgins tells a story to a Mr Davis that no one knows of: a murder at Bath of an old woman! It is obvious that the guilt is eating at him and he is scared senseless. He thinks no one will trace it back to him until some letters appears giving clues to the murderer. Miss Pratt is interested in the fate of the old lady since this lady is quite similar to her in age, circumstances and privately hoarded money. The Squire’s daughter becomes a widow after the hanging of his huband for murder and stealing and his father blames himself for promoting her marriage with a man of whom he knew so little about. They deem themselves as fools! Times pass and the “White House” has become like a story Mr Higgins would tell; a mysterious house that is like a tomb holding secret treasures of ill-gotten wealth…
8)The Journey to Panama (Anthony Trollope)
On a sea voyage, customary conventions can be overlooked and adjusted as seen fit. People become romantic among the discomforts that are generally short-lived and delusive. There is formalised and accepted cruelty for women at the time. They accept marriages arranged for them and do not seek to find true love. They accept the loneliness and even crave it. A Mr Forrest is on this ship who is a widower that has lost his wife. So it is without surprise that Miss Viner and him connect well under these circumstances even though at first they find each other intolerable, “You feel your own shoe when it pinches but do not realise the tight boot of your neighbour.” Miss Viner does not want to marry a man in Panama 20 years older than her but is penniless and without an option to reject. “That is the way in which women are always treated. They have no choice given them, and are then scolded for choosing wrongly.” Society and its company would not allow her rejection and would regard her with hostility, “I’m now bound to him. I have taken his money and have no escape. It is easy to say that a woman should not marry without love, as easy as it is to say that a man should not starve. But there are men who starve—starve although they work hard.” When they arrive in Panama, where she will marry but also wants to be free of the obligation, Mr Forrest learns that the man is dead and tells Miss Viner who now tastes freedom. Mr Forrest particularly has grown attached to Miss Viner but Miss Viner does not want none of that and they go their seperate ways; as if two independent ships drifting apart following a different compass with a faint rememberance of their friendship and what could have been…
9)The Sphinx Without a Secret (Oscar Wilde)
I have read this short story before and liked it.
A gentleman is sitting outside a cafe watching “the strange panorama of pride and poverty that was passing before” him, when he saw an old friend who had woman troubles.The man has fallen deeply in love with a woman that has the air of many mysteries. The man notices the lady through the lady’s yellow brougham (carriage). As the man starts to think there is another man involved with her, he becomes frantic and hurts her feelings. The lady dies soon after. Curious of the mystery, the man goes to the place the lady frequents. Apparently, she simply sat in the drawing-room, reading books and having some tea. The tale concludes with the revelation that the lady deliberately harbors a “mania for mystery,” “imagines herself as a heroine,” and “has a passion for secrecy, yet she herself is merely a sphinx without a secret.” This conclusion leaves the reader pondering whether it’s entirely accurate or if the lady harbors more undisclosed secrets…
10)The Judge’s House (Bram Stoker)
A mathematics scholar is searching for a place of solitude to study. He finds an old-haunted house called the “Judge’s House” which is literally the house of a judge that gave harsh sentences and known for his hostility. The house is filled with rats. Most of the rats sounds he gets used to and find it calming. However, when the rats cease to manifest themselves when the “great rat with the baleful eyes—came upon the scene”. This rat is without a doubt the Judge is disguise. He sits on the oak chair besides rhe fireplace and when attacked, flee up the rope of the alarm bell towards the third picture from the fireplace that has the painting of the judge inside the room. The rope was the rope used by the hangman for the victims the judge found guilty. Its a night with thunder and storm, the judge leaves the picture and reveals his true form to the scholar. His goal is to hang him up. The other rats could be the victims of the judge trying with no avail to help this helpless man but the judge wins, “A dreadful peal of thunder broke overhead as he raised the rope again, whilst the rats kept running up and down the bell-rope as though working against time.” The noose tightens, the scholar stands on top of the oak chair until its pulled away and the alarm bell of the Judge’s House began to sound. But no one can help the scholar no more, “There at the end of the rope of the great alarm bell hung the body of the student and on the face of the judge in the picture was a malignant smile.”
One of the most bone-chilling stories I have ever read…
11)The Necklace (Guy De Maupassant)
This is about a woman who desired to be decorated with the finest luxury. She did not want a humble life but one filled with splendor! This was her ambition, but that can only be achieved depending on her husband. She stays at home, sheltered and with her dreams. So when an invite comes to an event, she wants to wear expensive dresses and jewelry. The dress she acquires with the help of her husband’s sacrifice but she is depressed and dissatisfied without the ornaments, “No there is nothing more humiliating than to have an air of poverty among a crowd of rich woman.” She cares about other’s judgement and their judgements shapes her values and desires. Her inferiority complex runs deep. Her friend provides her with a “diamond necklace” and she trembles with desire and rapture. Some can call it greed and to an extent it is, but I think its an attempt to admire and love herself through the acceptance and desire of others due to one thing she can control: which is her appearance, “Carried away by her enjoyment, glorying in her beauty and her success, she threw herself ecstatically into the dance…all the desires she had kindled, all that complete and perfect triumph so dear to a woman’s heart.” However, disaster strikes when she loses that necklace. They find a similar necklace but it is not cheap. She becomes a dutiful “housewife” in order to pay it. It takes 10 years for them to pay it fully. She looks aged and neglected. But she still reminisces and dreams of the past…”But now and then, when her husband was at the office, she would sit by the window, and her thoughts would wander back to that faraway evening, the evening of her beauty and triumph. What would have been the end of it if she had not lost the necklace? Who could say? Who could say? How strange, how variable are the chances of life! How small a thing can serve to save or ruin you!” The plot twist? The diamond necklace was imitation and they brought a much more expensive necklace for the friend for a replacement. They suffered 10 years for nothing due to their pride and lack of communication with the friend. They cared too much of judgement to actually view other possibilities and outcomes…
12)The Kiss (Anton Chekhov)
When officers visit an old commanders dwelling, Riabovitch meets his idealized woman. He is shy and accepts his fate readily without a fight. He gets used to not getting what he desires. When he went to a room with supposedly no one around, suddenly a woman hugs him and kisses his cheek. This mysterious, unknown woman will be at the forefront of his mind since it brought unexpected joy and color into his dull life. Even though the woman imagined him to be someone else and the kiss was a mistake, this does not end his daydreaming, “With the ectasy of a dreamer, he pictured tiny feminine feet walking along the yellow path, and, unexpected, the image of the girl who had kissed him rose before his mind…”Towards the end, he comes back to reality as he no longer expects anything from this vague hope and disillusionment that he had crafted for himself, “He raised his eyes from the water and looked up at the sky; once more he remembered how fate, in the form of an unknown woman, had unexpectedly caressed him; he recalled his dreams and images of the summer, and his life appeared to him so poor, wretched and colourless…” Thus, he abandons the joy of dreaming since he has come to the conclusion that a dream is just a dream when it does not invite effort into the equation—and it seems he does not have the courage to bring real color into the dull but only a glimpse of it just for one time…
13)The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
I’ve read this story before and now know its from the author’s own experience…It’s one of the greatest short stories of all time. It is about women who are not listened to (mental illness “hysteria” seen as a woman’s disease if they show too much emotion) by even the people closest to them (they endure her, feign care) and have to “creep” around to maintain even a semblance of control and companionship; freedom is beyond the “yellow wallpaper” that feels like bars…
14)Juke Judkins’ Courtship (Charles Lamb)
The world has come to a point where we are all so individualistic and so in our own world, almost everyone to a degree, is like Juke Judkins’. We, us and they do not want to share the “greed” and we keep everything for ourselves. There is no real empathy left and most do not notice beyond their own walls. Even public morals, actions and rules are no longer followed. Why should we care about someone’s feelings? Especially a stranger? It is all about what “I” will gain from it and not what the “other” person will gain. I like how David Stuart Davies put it, “someone who is too blind to see that what he perceives as his virtues are in fact his failings.” Of course, parents also play a role and with social media and the world becoming more of “screens” such qualities that keep society close are no longer valued…The old, needed values will be forgotten or practiced by lesser and lesser people…
15)One Dollar’s Worth (O. Henry)
One life or one race is not better than the other. In this story we see 2 cases: One of Mexico Sam with his threatening letter and one of Rafael Ortiz with his counterfeit silver dollar. He is found guilty for one fake dollar but his girl says it was to get her medicine to live, “if the life of the girl you love is ever in danger, remember Rafael Ortiz”. Well, that threatening letter was not for show. To get out of the situation they use the counterfeit silver dollar and aim at the man. Thus? There is no evidence to convict Rafael Ortiz and he has saved the day yet again with his heart and kindness! Innocent shall prevail under conditions where there is someone who will take your side!
February 21, 2026
Hard to give any other rating than 5 stars here, simply because of the list of authors is a list of masters; even if these stories are probably all inferior to their best work, it is fascinating to see them in the short form. Also interesting to see origins of the short story and how it has evolved over time.
Funny to see how many of the stories have gallows or ghosts. The one I most enjoyed was The Journey to Panama by Trollope. Definitely a writer to discover.
Funny to see how many of the stories have gallows or ghosts. The one I most enjoyed was The Journey to Panama by Trollope. Definitely a writer to discover.
July 26, 2015
A very good representative of its age. Very entertaining and diverse.
December 5, 2015
It's not often that I love every short story in a collection but this was one such. Such a diversity of stories. Loved it
September 14, 2021
Finished reading on the delayed Swansea to Paddington 12:23 train. Quick visit to my parents. Picked this book up from dads bookshelf. Was a Xmas present to him from my wife in 2009. Varied stories from Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Conan Doyle to name a few. Good introduction to authors I had not read - Guy de Maupassant and O. Henry.
May 29, 2018
The art of the short story is one often forgotten by readers to the extent that even the great writers' stories can be overlooked, however, this collection seeks to champion it. Comprised of stories by foremost writers whose reputations have continued beyond their own period and into our own, it is unsurprising this book is a success. The nature of the stories varied from spooky ghost stories to a tale of love and this allowed the compilation to be very readable, interest never once straying.
The short story was something that I previously overlooked and even though I admired the works of many of the authors within this collection, I stuck to their most famous genre such as plays or novels; this mistake was quickly remedied. The engaging writing style, the perfect structure and the sheer brilliance of the imagination of many of these authors are enough to absorb any reader. However, the most striking factor about these stories was the simplicity of their central idea and allow their skill to make this something quite remarkable.
Whilst I have no faults with the actual stories it is a shame that the preliminary notes were not up to the same standard. These varied from being too detailed and in doing so partially ruining the story or waffled on not saying much, appearing as a page filler. The brief biography was a useful aid to put the story in perspective such as with 'The Yellow Wallpaper' where the influence of the author's life was pronounced throughout the story. The brief notes on style, structure, and language etc. were also at times beneficial, though clarity of content and purpose is needed.
There is nothing though that can take away from the brilliance of these short stories themselves for they demonstrate English literature at its finest and demand to be read and enjoyed.
The short story was something that I previously overlooked and even though I admired the works of many of the authors within this collection, I stuck to their most famous genre such as plays or novels; this mistake was quickly remedied. The engaging writing style, the perfect structure and the sheer brilliance of the imagination of many of these authors are enough to absorb any reader. However, the most striking factor about these stories was the simplicity of their central idea and allow their skill to make this something quite remarkable.
Whilst I have no faults with the actual stories it is a shame that the preliminary notes were not up to the same standard. These varied from being too detailed and in doing so partially ruining the story or waffled on not saying much, appearing as a page filler. The brief biography was a useful aid to put the story in perspective such as with 'The Yellow Wallpaper' where the influence of the author's life was pronounced throughout the story. The brief notes on style, structure, and language etc. were also at times beneficial, though clarity of content and purpose is needed.
There is nothing though that can take away from the brilliance of these short stories themselves for they demonstrate English literature at its finest and demand to be read and enjoyed.
January 23, 2012
Not a complete review yet. I'm currently reading this book and will add comments about the individual stories once I get to them.
Charles Dickens - The Black Veil
A young doctor is visited by a veiled woman dressed all in black
Starts out interesting and mysterious and stays that way for most of the time, but the end is rather moralizing. I like Dickens' style, it feels charmingly old-fashioned, but I think if I'm going to read more of him, I'm going to stick to short stories at first, because I'm not absolutely sure yet that I'd still like this style after a few hundred pages.
Thomas Hardy - The Withered Arm
For the most part, I liked, it but the end was just too much.
Wilkie Collins - The Terribly Strange Bed
Probably my favorite so far. And the end didn't feel as preachy as the first two.
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Bottle Imp
Liked the style, didn't like the ending.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Red-Headed League
My Favorite so far, although I've read it before.
H. G. Wells - The Stolen Bacillus
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Squire's Story
Anthony Trollope - The Journey to Panama
Oscar Wilde - The Sphinx Without a Secret
Bram Stoker - The Judge's House
Guy de Maupassant - The Necklace
Anton Chekov - The Kiss
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
Charles Lamb - Juke Judkin's Courtship
O. Henry - One Dollar's Worth
Charles Dickens - The Black Veil
A young doctor is visited by a veiled woman dressed all in black
Starts out interesting and mysterious and stays that way for most of the time, but the end is rather moralizing. I like Dickens' style, it feels charmingly old-fashioned, but I think if I'm going to read more of him, I'm going to stick to short stories at first, because I'm not absolutely sure yet that I'd still like this style after a few hundred pages.
Thomas Hardy - The Withered Arm
For the most part, I liked, it but the end was just too much.
Wilkie Collins - The Terribly Strange Bed
Probably my favorite so far. And the end didn't feel as preachy as the first two.
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Bottle Imp
Liked the style, didn't like the ending.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Red-Headed League
My Favorite so far, although I've read it before.
H. G. Wells - The Stolen Bacillus
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Squire's Story
Anthony Trollope - The Journey to Panama
Oscar Wilde - The Sphinx Without a Secret
Bram Stoker - The Judge's House
Guy de Maupassant - The Necklace
Anton Chekov - The Kiss
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
Charles Lamb - Juke Judkin's Courtship
O. Henry - One Dollar's Worth
June 25, 2014
I bought it solely for "The Judge's House", but I also adored "The Black Veil", "The Terribly Strange Bed", "The Red-Headed League", "The Stolen Bacillus", "The Journey to Panama", "The Sphinx Without a Secret" and "The Yellow Wallpaper".
After all, I liked all the stories collected in this book, but those which I didn't mention above I found too strange or simply didn't like their construction.
After all, I liked all the stories collected in this book, but those which I didn't mention above I found too strange or simply didn't like their construction.
March 3, 2009
Fairly good reads, many have a spooky element which is dealt with rather well and in a charming 19th century manner.
January 4, 2026
Κριτική στα Ελληνικά πιο κάτω...
A decent collection of short stories from this time period, from the usual "suspects". I've read them all before, but it was nice to re-visit.
Charles Dickens - The Black Veil
A weird little story, too much melodrama and references to the societal issues Dickens often returns to...
Thomas Hardy - The Withered Arm
A touch of supernatural/oddity here and a bit longer than necessary in the begining versus the ending of the story. An unsatisfactory turn of events at the end on my opinion, still a fine story.
Wilkie Collins - The Terribly Strange Bed
Not extraordinary, but a nice little story.
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Bottle Imp
One of my favorite authors adapts a well-known theme on the western world for the local population and in the specific setting in the south seas where he spent the last years of his life.
His later works are not so well-known compared with his earlier novels and short stories, but I've read and like them a lot.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Red-Headed League
A nice short story starring Sherlock Holmes, it features the usual traits of all his stories, it's just a quicker and a bit more superficial read.
H. G. Wells - The Stolen Bacillus
I liked the wit and irony on this one.
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Squire's Story
A decent story, clever commentary/study on certain human types and behaviors. But a bit too naive and kind of didactic I think.
Anthony Trollope - The Journey to Panama
A decent light story and the usual commentary of the author within the narrative.
Oscar Wilde - The Sphinx Without a Secret
Again one of my favorite authors and a quirky little story. Not sure why death and melodrama is so common on the era, although I guess people really DID die more often and in young age too.
Bram Stoker - The Judge's House
A very atmospheric story, one of the author's best. I liked the way the creepiness builds up, although it's the usual "why doesn't he get it?" trope and a few quirky elements thrown in (rats ringing the bell and a monstrous rat etc?)
Guy de Maupassant - The Necklace
In most of his stories this author isn't very judgemental of his characters and doesn't try to preach on this or that, although he doesn't avoid some bias of his era. This story is a good example of a simple plot line making you think on different directions. Very decent.
Anton Chekov - The Kiss
Mostly a character study and a sad after-taste as it happens in most Russian writers. While this author is famous for his theater plays rather than his other writing, I tend to like or anyhow find more accessible his stories rather than his plays.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
A sad and very clever insight both on mental illness and on how it was perceived and treated back in this era and especially on how so called experts and men and all biased society made things worse due to their ignorance and manipulation towards women. One of the first authors to talk clearly on these issues, often talking from personal experience. If this author is included in a collection, 99% of the time it'll be with this specific story.
Charles Lamb - Juke Judkin's Courtship
Clever and witty short story due to the first person narration and how the author handles it.
O. Henry - One Dollar's Worth
Poignant and fun little read with the usual prejudices of the era. Decent enough, not very memorable.
Μάλλον το έχω παρακάνει με την ανάγνωση Άγγλων και Αμερικάνων συγγραφέων από αυτή την περίοδο, καθώς και με τους "συνήθεις ύποπτους" από Γαλλία και Ρωσία μεριά. Διότι σπάνια θα βρω κάποια ιστορία που δεν έχω διαβάσει σε αυτές τις συλλογές. Εδώ τις έχω ξαναδιαβάσει όλες, ωστόσο ήταν ένα αξιοπρεπές ανάγνωσμα καθώς ξαναδιαβάζονται άνετα. Σαν γνωριμία με το έργο κάποιων συγγραφέων αν κάποιος δεν τους ξέρει, στέκεται καλά. Έχει και μικρή εισαγωγή για τον καθένα τους πριν από κάθε ιστορία.
A decent collection of short stories from this time period, from the usual "suspects". I've read them all before, but it was nice to re-visit.
Charles Dickens - The Black Veil
A weird little story, too much melodrama and references to the societal issues Dickens often returns to...
Thomas Hardy - The Withered Arm
A touch of supernatural/oddity here and a bit longer than necessary in the begining versus the ending of the story. An unsatisfactory turn of events at the end on my opinion, still a fine story.
Wilkie Collins - The Terribly Strange Bed
Not extraordinary, but a nice little story.
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Bottle Imp
One of my favorite authors adapts a well-known theme on the western world for the local population and in the specific setting in the south seas where he spent the last years of his life.
His later works are not so well-known compared with his earlier novels and short stories, but I've read and like them a lot.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Red-Headed League
A nice short story starring Sherlock Holmes, it features the usual traits of all his stories, it's just a quicker and a bit more superficial read.
H. G. Wells - The Stolen Bacillus
I liked the wit and irony on this one.
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Squire's Story
A decent story, clever commentary/study on certain human types and behaviors. But a bit too naive and kind of didactic I think.
Anthony Trollope - The Journey to Panama
A decent light story and the usual commentary of the author within the narrative.
Oscar Wilde - The Sphinx Without a Secret
Again one of my favorite authors and a quirky little story. Not sure why death and melodrama is so common on the era, although I guess people really DID die more often and in young age too.
Bram Stoker - The Judge's House
A very atmospheric story, one of the author's best. I liked the way the creepiness builds up, although it's the usual "why doesn't he get it?" trope and a few quirky elements thrown in (rats ringing the bell and a monstrous rat etc?)
Guy de Maupassant - The Necklace
In most of his stories this author isn't very judgemental of his characters and doesn't try to preach on this or that, although he doesn't avoid some bias of his era. This story is a good example of a simple plot line making you think on different directions. Very decent.
Anton Chekov - The Kiss
Mostly a character study and a sad after-taste as it happens in most Russian writers. While this author is famous for his theater plays rather than his other writing, I tend to like or anyhow find more accessible his stories rather than his plays.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
A sad and very clever insight both on mental illness and on how it was perceived and treated back in this era and especially on how so called experts and men and all biased society made things worse due to their ignorance and manipulation towards women. One of the first authors to talk clearly on these issues, often talking from personal experience. If this author is included in a collection, 99% of the time it'll be with this specific story.
Charles Lamb - Juke Judkin's Courtship
Clever and witty short story due to the first person narration and how the author handles it.
O. Henry - One Dollar's Worth
Poignant and fun little read with the usual prejudices of the era. Decent enough, not very memorable.
Μάλλον το έχω παρακάνει με την ανάγνωση Άγγλων και Αμερικάνων συγγραφέων από αυτή την περίοδο, καθώς και με τους "συνήθεις ύποπτους" από Γαλλία και Ρωσία μεριά. Διότι σπάνια θα βρω κάποια ιστορία που δεν έχω διαβάσει σε αυτές τις συλλογές. Εδώ τις έχω ξαναδιαβάσει όλες, ωστόσο ήταν ένα αξιοπρεπές ανάγνωσμα καθώς ξαναδιαβάζονται άνετα. Σαν γνωριμία με το έργο κάποιων συγγραφέων αν κάποιος δεν τους ξέρει, στέκεται καλά. Έχει και μικρή εισαγωγή για τον καθένα τους πριν από κάθε ιστορία.
November 4, 2021
I found this book with a very, very cheap price, and i'm glad that i took it.
I think i always ended up buying book of short stories, i don't know why, because i didn't intend it, because i feel like it's not enough in short story, to really understand the character and feel invested in a story of 4-10 something pages. but here i am, i have 5 books of short stories in my collection, because i found them really cheap and in a good condition and i craved to read something anyway, So.
I didn't want to buy short stories, but then i bought it, but i ended up really like it, and i swore to myself to never buy short stories again, and then i keep buying more. Why?? I have no idea.
everything is random in my short stories books, compilation of rom coms, ghost stories, or what, and then there's this book.
I have to thank David Stuart Davies because he selected these awesome stories in this book, i love this collection of short stories more than my other ones. The stories are great , some of them left mark and just simply special and unforgettable. what a ride!!
here are my faves :
1. The yellow wallpaper
2. The red- headed league
3. the necklace
4.the withered arm
5. the story of a terribly strange bed
6. The bottle imp
7. the stolen bacillus
8. The judge's house
9. the sphinx without a secret
Wow, it's almost all of them!! so yes, i would recommend this book, and my fave ones make me want to read more works from the authors. :))
I think i always ended up buying book of short stories, i don't know why, because i didn't intend it, because i feel like it's not enough in short story, to really understand the character and feel invested in a story of 4-10 something pages. but here i am, i have 5 books of short stories in my collection, because i found them really cheap and in a good condition and i craved to read something anyway, So.
I didn't want to buy short stories, but then i bought it, but i ended up really like it, and i swore to myself to never buy short stories again, and then i keep buying more. Why?? I have no idea.
everything is random in my short stories books, compilation of rom coms, ghost stories, or what, and then there's this book.
I have to thank David Stuart Davies because he selected these awesome stories in this book, i love this collection of short stories more than my other ones. The stories are great , some of them left mark and just simply special and unforgettable. what a ride!!
here are my faves :
1. The yellow wallpaper
2. The red- headed league
3. the necklace
4.the withered arm
5. the story of a terribly strange bed
6. The bottle imp
7. the stolen bacillus
8. The judge's house
9. the sphinx without a secret
Wow, it's almost all of them!! so yes, i would recommend this book, and my fave ones make me want to read more works from the authors. :))
August 30, 2017
An excellent and diverse (enough) collection. The introductions to each author/story make this a good book for newcomers to C. 19th fiction. It's a pleasant causal read, but there's enough substance (and those introductions) to make it a fair book for studying too. The glossary/notes are useful enough, but a few of the definitions/clarifications are quite poor.
Thomas Hardy's "The Withered Arm" and Bram Stoker's "The Judge' s House" are widely regarded and, along with "The Terribly Strange Bed", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Stolen Bacillus", are the better stories of the collection. Nevertheless, all of the short stories are entertaining and mostly gripping.
Thomas Hardy's "The Withered Arm" and Bram Stoker's "The Judge' s House" are widely regarded and, along with "The Terribly Strange Bed", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Stolen Bacillus", are the better stories of the collection. Nevertheless, all of the short stories are entertaining and mostly gripping.
January 5, 2026
This has mostly universally-acclaimed standard stuff that can be found elsewhere. The "Introduction" chapter is simplistically corny, and each story is preceded by a biography of the author and a brief description of what's to be encountered. The only things that can be deemed somewhat as nice-"surprises" are Thomas Hardy's "The Withered Arm," R.L. Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp," Bram Stoker's "The Judge's House," and Charles Lamb's "Juke Judkins' Courtship." OTW, good for what it is, I guess...
October 26, 2025
I picked this book up with the intent of getting through some light reading, as of late, I have been quite busy. The works in this text span all genres: romance, mystery, tragedy, and horror.
This book was lovely. My favorite stories were The Bottle Imp, The Necklace, & The Journey to Panama.
The only story I did not care for was "The Squire's Story."
This book was lovely. My favorite stories were The Bottle Imp, The Necklace, & The Journey to Panama.
The only story I did not care for was "The Squire's Story."
May 21, 2025
There’s a great collection of short stories in here, some great and others feel more like filler to me. But I really enjoyed overall and about 8 of these will stick with me and I’ll probably revisit them too!
June 15, 2018
even though I wasn't exactly infatuated with this book (i really don't like short stories) the awkward dealings with the human nature are very enticing and on point
April 29, 2019
A really good selection of stories and a lovely introduction to 19th century literature. One I'll definitely be recommending to my pupils.
December 23, 2019
Many good stories.
December 20, 2025
Excellent selections. A good mix that can be read individually or flows well from one story to the next.
April 5, 2026
Lovely collection, warmly annotated. Maybe a bit short on masterpieces, but "The Kiss", "The Bottle Imp", "The Red-Headed League" and "The Journey to Panama" are particulary delightful.
June 3, 2026
Prachtige verhalen uit de 19e eeuw, de Golden Age van het verhalen vertellen met o.a. Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle en anderen. Zeer aan te bevelen.
February 16, 2015
Great collection of short stories by well known writers. The book is perfect for those who are still green when it comes to classic literature as it gives them a taste of what writing was like at that time!
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