John Bartine’s Watch
Ambrose BierceA physician tests a friend’s fear of an inherited watch and sees how serious it is.
10 min · Foreboding
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- Settings
- The home
- Style
- Ornate
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
The story shelf
Follow your curiosity.
A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
Recurring elements in the story’s premise.
In the Ravine
Anton ChekhovA wealthy village family's corrupt business and private rivalries draw a poor young bride into a struggle over money, conscience, and power.
74 min · Bleak
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- Themes
- Class & poverty · Greed · Law & justice
- Settings
- Villages & small towns · The home
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Murder
Anton ChekhovAt an isolated railway tavern, two devout cousins clash over faith, money, and family rights as resentment turns dangerous.
56 min · Bleak
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- Themes
- Faith & doubt · Guilt · Redemption
- Settings
- The countryside · Prisons & asylums
- Tone
- Detached
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Domain of Arnheim
Edgar Allan PoeAn heir uses an immense fortune to create a private landscape meant to surpass nature without losing its beauty.
27 min · Wondrous
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- Themes
- Art & artists · Nature & wilderness · Wealth & money
- Settings
- Country houses & estates · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Lyrical · Descriptive
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Vignette & sketch
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills · Journeys & quests
The Imp of the Perverse
Edgar Allan PoeA condemned man argues that people are sometimes driven to do what they know will destroy them.
11 min · Unsettling
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- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Dense · Conversational
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Landscape Garden
Edgar Allan PoeA wealthy young man rejects status and politics to treat landscape gardening as an art and a plan for a happy life.
16 min · Reflective
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- Themes
- Art & artists · Wealth & money · Nature & wilderness
- Settings
- The countryside
- Tone
- Earnest
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Vignette & sketch
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Spectacles
Edgar Allan PoeA vain young heir falls for a woman he can barely see and rushes toward marriage before he understands who she is.
43 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Pride · Self-deception · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Ornate · Conversational
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
Thou Art the Man
Edgar Allan PoeA town's most trusted man leads the hunt for a missing neighbor while every clue points to the victim's disgraced nephew.
26 min · Suspenseful
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- Themes
- Law & justice · Revenge · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- Villages & small towns · The countryside
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational · Ornate
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
A Family Affair
Guy de MaupassantWhen a timid civil servant’s elderly mother is declared dead, grief soon competes with inheritance, office protocol, and his wife’s practical schemes.
47 min · Humorous
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- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Leisurely
- Occasion
- Funerals & wakes
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
A Million
Guy de MaupassantA childless couple’s expected inheritance comes with one condition, turning marital respectability into a desperate financial problem.
8 min · Humorous
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- Themes
- Wealth & money · Marriage · Hypocrisy
- Settings
- The home · Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
A True Story
Guy de MaupassantA landowner recalls forcing his pregnant servant into a marriage arranged to protect his own name.
9 min · Bleak
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- Themes
- Marriage · Class & poverty · Women’s independence
- Settings
- The countryside
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
Hautot and His Son
Guy de MaupassantA dying Norman farmer entrusts his son with an address, a secret household, and an obligation no legal will records.
20 min · Tender
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- Settings
- The countryside · The home
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Occasion
- Funerals & wakes
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
In the Country
Guy de MaupassantA wealthy, childless couple offers two poor farming families money and security in exchange for adopting a son.
9 min · Bleak
More details
- Themes
- Class & poverty · Parenthood · Wealth & money
- Settings
- The countryside · Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills · Homecomings
Madame Luneau’s Case
Guy de MaupassantA pregnant widow is sued in open court by the married man she promised to pay for helping secure an inheritance.
7 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Wealth & money · Law & justice · Hypocrisy
- Tone
- Deadpan
- Style
- Plain · Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
My Uncle Sosthène
Guy de MaupassantA nephew’s Good Friday prank sends a kindly Jesuit to the sickbed of his fiercely anticlerical uncle.
12 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Faith & doubt · Self-deception · Greed
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
Suspense
Guy de MaupassantA dying woman hires an advocate to find the son who vanished after discovering the secret at the center of her household.
9 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Parenthood · Guilt · Betrayal
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Moralizing
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Chair Mender
Guy de MaupassantA country doctor recounts the lifelong devotion of an itinerant chair mender to a village chemist.
11 min · Tragic
More details
- Themes
- Unrequited love · Class & poverty · Sacrifice
- Settings
- Villages & small towns · The countryside
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Conversational
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Confession
Guy de MaupassantAfter burying a man celebrated for his honesty, his children open a private confession that forces them to choose between truth and family honor.
12 min · Tragic
More details
- Themes
- Guilt · Parenthood · Honor & reputation
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Occasion
- Funerals & wakes
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Jewels
Guy de MaupassantA contented clerk dismisses his beloved wife’s glittering jewels as paste until widowhood forces him to have one valued.
12 min · Bittersweet
More details
- Themes
- Appearance vs reality · Betrayal · Wealth & money
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Legacy
Guy de MaupassantA wealthy friend’s will leaves a married couple arguing over whether reputation matters more than one million francs.
8 min · Melancholy
More details
- Themes
- Wealth & money · Marriage · Hypocrisy
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Little Cask
Guy de MaupassantAn innkeeper buys a stubborn widow’s farm on a life annuity, then grows impatient when she remains stubbornly healthy.
10 min · Unsettling
More details
- Themes
- Greed · Wealth & money · Addiction & dependence
- Settings
- The countryside · Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills
The Orphan
Guy de MaupassantA lonely woman adopts an orphan for love, then begins to fear the silent young man growing up inside her house.
10 min · Foreboding
More details
- Themes
- Betrayal · Family · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- The home · The countryside
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
The Will
Guy de MaupassantA young man explains how his mother’s final testament exposed the truth behind a brutal country household.
8 min · Solemn
More details
- Themes
- Family · Women’s independence · Hypocrisy
- Settings
- Country houses & estates · The home
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills · Duels
A Catastrophe
H. G. WellsA failing shopkeeper finally tells his wife they face ruin, just as a family catastrophe offers an answer neither can admit wanting.
14 min · Bittersweet
More details
- Themes
- Class & poverty · Marriage · Fate & chance
- Settings
- Offices & workplaces · The home
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Measured
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Inheritance & wills