Featured Stories

The English Pupil

The English Pupil: Short story by Andrea BarrettIn addition to being a celebration of the life and work of renowned biologist Carl Linnaeus, major themes of this touching story by Andrea Barrett are aging, memory and approaching death. The dying scientist has his coachman take him to his empty country estate where, amid a fog of fading memories, he reminisces about his life and the fate of some of the “apostles” he sent around the world to collect biological specimens. Later, he is joined by a concerned daughter and an unknown man he imagines to be his only surviving pupil. Other themes include family, pride and regret.

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Marigolds

Marigolds: Short story by Eugenia CollierIn Eugenia Collier’s Marigolds the protagonist comes of age (or in her words loses her innocence) when caught in a senseless act of destruction. Angry about her father’s shame over not being able to find work, she lashes out at the garden of a neighbor who is trying to bring beauty and happiness into her life by growing marigolds. Ironically, the neighbor and her disabled son are even more destitute than the protagonist’s family. Themes: childhood memories, poverty, shame, envy, impulsiveness, empathy, guilt and possibly racism (the resentful references to “white folks” and comments about Miss Lottie’s “Indian-like” features).

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You’ll Learn Soon Enough

You’ll Learn Soon Enough: Short story by Lao KhamhomThis tale by Lao Khamhom is a loosely based sequel to one of our earlier stories, As If It Had Never Happened. Road and bridge building projects have connected a once isolated Thai rice farming village to the outside world. A young girl, excited about her first bus-trip to a nearby town to sell vegetables, is befuddled by a petty extortion attempt at a government counterinsurgency checkpoint. Later, she experiences real graft when the “concessionaire” of a newly built highway refuses to allow her and other village busses to proceed. Themes include innocence, family, progress, connectivity, change, fear, oppression, corruption.

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Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry

Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry: Short story by Elizabeth McCrackenIn this story by Elizabeth McCracken, a homeless woman with no family has spent her life traveling the countryside and staying at the homes of people she says are distant relatives. Now in her eighties, she visits a young couple claiming to be the niece of the man’s great-grandfather. While there, she forms an unlikely attachment to a neglected, undisciplined young boy living nearby. When the truth comes out and it is time for her to leave, she considers taking the boy with her. Themes include homelessness, deception, family, loss, connection.

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Suzy and Leah

Suzy and Leah: Short story by Jane YolenGiven the ever-increasing number of refugees across the world, the themes of this Jane Yolen holocaust survivor story are just as relevant today. The central theme is humanity. Despite their different backgrounds, the two protagonists show a similar desire to be treated with respect. The coldness between them stems from Suzy’s well-intentioned but insensitive attempts to be kind by giving candy and fruit to the orphaned children through the camp fence. Leah resents the gratuitous hand-outs; all she wants is a new, safe life for herself and friend Avi. Other themes: hardship, assimilation, appearance, misunderstanding, lack of communication, compassion, friendship.

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The Custodian

The Custodian: Novelette by Deborah EisenbergIn this story by Deborah Eisenberg, two childhood friends from families of different financial means drift apart when the older girl goes to high school. However, they still share a common bond through child-minding jobs for a young woman and her “touchy-feely” college professor husband who live in “their” stone cottage. The story has an unusual structure: beginning at the end, returning to the beginning, then allowing readers to reach their own conclusion as to why the older girl’s family mysteriously whisks her out of town. Themes include friendship, social class, isolation, regret, infatuation, sexual predation/grooming.

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Idyll

Idyll: Short story by Guy de MaupassantThis little known story from Guy de Maupassant is about a man and woman who meet and become friends during a long train journey. The idyllic countryside they are traveling through is in contrast to the way the woman feels. She is a wet-nurse (a woman who cares for and breast-feeds other people’s babies) and has not had a baby to her breast in the last two days. She is in great pain because of this, and the man offers to help her. In doing this, the man solves a problem of his own.

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The Best Girlfriend You Never Had

The Best Girlfriend You Never Had: Short story by Pam HoustonIf you are looking for a story with a traditional plot structure, this work of contemporary fiction by Pam Houston is not for you. The story comprises fourteen anecdotes and observations about the life of a thirty-one-year-old woman who comes to San Francisco seeking order and romantic love. Instead, she finds chaos and frustration. Obsessed with finding the right man, she always seems to identify with the wrong ones. The one man in her life she has strong feelings for calls himself the best girlfriend you never had. Themes: order vs. chaos, friendship vs. romantic love, self-esteem, fear, enlightenment, change.

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