All Articles

Always a subversive who tried to undermine upper middle class life in the early twentieth century, Mansfield here looks at a successful businessman and head of a seemingly happy family, one evening late in his life. As we learn more about his aims and his disappointments, we start to question whether he has achieved all he set out to gain or lost too much trying. (2,000 words)

In the early twentieth century, a woman who could not find herself a husband in England was not complete. In this typical Mansfield story, a teacher who is engaged to a younger man gets a letter from him containing unexpected bad news. (1,510 words)

This very short story by the feminist American writer, Kate Chopin, examines the awakening of hope in a young, but sick, married woman, when she believes that the death of her much-loved husband in a train accident will allow her to live her own life. 'The Story of an Hour’ is also available at pre-intermediate level (930 words).

Guy de Maupassant is France’s greatest writer of short fiction. This powerful story is about an old woman whose son is killed and who promises him that she will get revenge. But how can she? She is old and cannot fight a young murderer. But then she has a terrible and very clever idea (1,200 words).

Henry Lawson is regarded as one of Australia's greatest writers. In this tragic and powerful story, a teacher's misjudgement leads to events that end in the accidental death of a child. (810 words)

An interesting story for every language student and teacher. A Frenchman who meets and falls in love with an English girl and decides to marry her. Some time later he meets an old friend on a boat full of English tourists and starts complaining about them and his wife. His friend doesn't understand but, as he explains, it’s all because of language! (960 words)

A young widow puts all her energy into her baby son and making the money needed for them to eat. Help comes from an old bachelor who marries her but is jealous of the smiles she only gives her son. He gives her a new child but she dies soon after his birth. Years of unfair treatment follow but eventually the first child proves his worth. (3,930 words)

Chekhov looks at the poverty and ambition of a clerk in this short story. He spends an evening in a depressing office when he should be out in the streets enjoying himself. To pass the time, he writes a letter asking for a slightly better job, complimenting a powerful man he hates and wonders how he can get a better man’s job. At the same time, he looks at an insect running around on his writing table … (1,090 words)

This story is about a man driven by an artist's desire perfection. He loves watching the girls as they collect strawberries and stop to drink at his farm. He notices the ever-changing colours of the clay where the plants grow and decides to make a jug as beautiful as the girls he sees and the one he has lost. (1,210 words).

This is a delightful story, told by one of the funniest writers in English, about a fiercely intelligent child who manages to escape a boring excursion to the seaside so that he can explore hidden treasure. To do so, he has to deceive his aunt but, just for once, the young seem more inventive and intelligent than the old. (1,850 words)

In this story, ‘Banjo’ Paterson describes one of the world’s favourite pets. He writes about the famous independence of the cat from the people he lives with and the difference in the animal asleep in front of our fire and in the garden at night. (950 words)

Mata Hari is one of the most famous spies in history and she has become a symbol of sexual temptation. In the end, she was shot as a spy in the First World War and died bravely. But what made her the woman she was? (1,280 words)

Szabo was executed as a British spy in a prison camp in Germany at the age of 23 in 1945. She had been born in France and could speak French and English fluently. She had also lost her husband while he was fighting in the British Army and was perfect material for a spy. This is the story of a very brave young woman. (895 words)

Whilst running the anti-Soviet section in British intelligence, Kim Philby was also a general in the KGB. He was a double agent and he became the most notorious Soviet spy in British history. (1,265 words)

This is a classic horror story about a charm brought to England by a soldier returning from India. It gives its owner three wishes but with awful consequence. (3,345 words)