Featured Stories

A Shocking Accident

A Shocking Accident: Short story by Graham GreeneGraham Greene’s short stories span many genres, from the serious to the farcical. In this comedy, a boy rationalizes his widowed father’s long absences from home by convincing himself that he is a mysterious adventurer. In reality, his father is a restless author whose unlikely death in an Italian “street accident” becomes an embarrassment the lad must carry into adulthood. Things change when he falls in love with a woman who shares a similar concern for the fate of animals. Themes: father-son relationships, perception, the unpredictability of life/death, communicating bad news, fear of ridicule.

Continue ReadingA Shocking Accident

The Devil

The Devil: Short story by Guy de MaupassantIn The Devil, Guy de Maupassant adopts the unusual (for him) approach of lightening a dark story-line with some playful dialog. A heartless old washerwoman has a side job nursing fellow villagers as they approach death. She normally charges by the day, but when forced into agreeing to a flat fee she has a ‘devilish’ way of helping her patients move along sooner rather than later. The major theme is greed, as evidenced by the lengths she and other villagers will go to if they can save a penny (or in this case, a sou). Other themes: death, poverty, deceit.

Continue ReadingThe Devil

The Kimono

The Kimono: Short story by H. E. BatesIn this story by H. E. Bates a fifty-year-old man looks back on his life from the day, shortly before his marriage, he had an unexpected sexual encounter with a seductive woman in an orange and green kimono. Three weeks later, he left his new bride and moved in with the other woman. So began twenty-five years of bliss and heart-ache as it became clear that, despite their strong feelings for each other, his free-spirited partner could never be happy in the arms of just one man. Themes include female sexuality, desire, passion, infidelity, choices and consequences, regret.

Continue ReadingThe Kimono

The Love of My Life

The Love of My Life: Short story by T. C. BoyleThis T. C. Boyle story holds a powerful message for teenagers in their first serious relationship. All too often, young lovers mistake the closeness that comes with shared sexual awakening for long-term, enduring love. The truth remains hidden until the relationship is tested in some way, in this case with an unplanned pregnancy. Initially, readers admire the young couple for the strength of their affection towards each other. Disappointment begins with the girl’s selfish indecision about the pregnancy, quickly followed by disgust at the couple’s terrible treatment of the new-born baby and willingness to blame each other for what happens.

Continue ReadingThe Love of My Life

Her Mother

Her Mother: Short story by Anjana AppachanaThis story by Anjana Appachana describes an Indian mother’s feelings of anguish, grief and betrayal upon reading the perfunctory first letter home from her younger daughter who has travelled to America to complete a Ph.D. Much of the story involves her thoughts on how best to reply. These range from ranting about personal care and the dangers of American life, providing “chatty” family news and encouraging her to find and marry a suitable Indian man, and confronting her about her abrupt decision to leave in such anger. Themes include tradition vs. westernization, independence, marriage and gender roles, double standards, self-pity.

Continue ReadingHer Mother

Clean Sweep Ignatius

Clean Sweep Ignatius: Short story by Jeffrey ArcherJeffrey Archer has come up with an almost unimaginable scenario. Nigeria has a new Finance Minister, Ignatius Agarbi, who decides to clean up his country’s reputation for corruption! He does such a good job, without so much as a breath of scandal, that the country’s President commissions him to find out the names of all ministers and government officials with money hidden away in secret Swiss bank accounts. Diligent as always, Ignatius devises a seemingly foolproof plan to find out just how serious Swiss banks are in maintaining their code of privacy. Themes: corruption, creativity, honor.

Continue ReadingClean Sweep Ignatius

The Outlaws

The Outlaws: Short story by Selma LagerlöfThe story from Selma Lagerlöf involves two medieval fugitives who meet and become close friends while hiding out in the Swedish wilderness. The men differ greatly in physique, confidence, class, religious belief and the seriousness of their crimes. One has murdered a monk; the other has admitted to stealing a fishing net. The only thing they have in common is that their charges arose because of manipulating women. To his ultimate cost, the murderer tries to help the fisherman (a pagan) by teaching him the fundamentals of Christianity. Themes: living in nature, mateship, culture, betrayal, religion, repentance, ‘justice’.

Continue ReadingThe Outlaws

The Scarlet Ibis

The Scarlet Ibis: Short story by James HurstThis tragic story from James Hurst contrasts the innocent outlook of a physically challenged boy with the pride and cruelty of his older brother. It is as if the older boy has two younger brothers: the imaginative storyteller that he clearly loves, and the disabled boy he is ashamed to be associated with. In an effort to mould Doodle to meet his expectations, he pushes the poor lad to a point where his heart can no longer bear the strain. Themes: the beauty and power of nature, acceptance vs. desire to change others, love vs. shame, cruelty, death, regret.

Continue ReadingThe Scarlet Ibis