Tales of the Unexpected

by Saki, Derek Jacobi

Presents a collection of short stories featuring practical jokes, tall tales, and suspense.

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

British writer Hector Hugh Munro under pen name Saki published his witty and sometimes bitter short stories in collections, such as The Chronicles of Clovis (1911).

His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.

His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.

Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.

Reviews

[Hayley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank goodness for my public library app and being able to filter by ‘random available audiobooks’ - otherwise I would never have discovered this gem!!

Incredible short stories. A couple are quite dated, but the rest are just spot on - satirical, whimsical, shocking and beautifully written.

Highlights:
The Unrest Cure
Tobermory
The Open Window
The Easter Egg

[James Clephane-Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. The cultural successor to Oscar Wilde and the inspiration for P.G. Woodhouse. Dark, witty and hilarious.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

One complaint: Jacobi reads these a little too quickly. I would have liked him to stop and savor the words a bit more, and give the listener time to paint the picture in his mind. I had been curious about Saki for some time, and was aware of his reputation as a top storyteller from England's Edwardian period. I had once seen a short film based on "The Open Window" (which is in this collection) and liked it a lot. This turned out to be pretty much what I had hoped it would be - clever short stories set in early 1900s England. Saki was a satirist as well as a humorist, and he pokes fun at the pretensions and ignorance of certain bourgeois attitudes, although no one really is safe, since he has a laugh at trade unionists, spiritualists, and beggars with tales of woe as well. An entertaining listen for fans of English life and letters.