A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
How quickly the story moves.
On a storm-lashed Norman night, a fisherman’s friend keeps filling his glass while someone waits at the drunkard’s home.
A bickering couple hears a midnight intruder in the garden, and the husband’s investigation changes their marriage.
An upholsterer explains how a cherished fishing spot, two furious wives, and one unlucky punch brought him before a jury.
A landowner’s annual hunting visit exposes a gamekeeper’s private crisis, then turns into a night of fire, flight, and irreversible violence.
A wealthy friend’s will leaves a married couple arguing over whether reputation matters more than one million francs.
A Norman peasant explains how Saint Michel acquired the Devil’s rich farmland through bargains, crops, and local cunning.
A boastful old bachelor recalls his first society affair and the practical lesson he learned about privacy.
A pious aristocratic family races to secure a freethinking marquis's last rites before scandal can reach the newspapers.
A peasant clown leaves the hospital with a healed leg and twenty-five francs, then spends his reward on a hazardous return to pleasure.
After burying his young wife, a colonel returns home to a letter in which she explains the hidden coercion behind her death.
A newly appointed State Councillor scatters favors across Paris until one generous recommendation threatens his carefully polished importance.
A stolen farm rabbit sends two pleased policemen after a suspect whose hiding place exposes more than one rural offense.
A surgeon’s false tale about a stolen saint’s relic impresses his devout fiancée—until she visits Cologne herself.
A divorced man meets his remarried former wife at a hotel and turns their old grievances into a calculated new proposal.
A confident Parisian explains how two carefully scheduled affairs collapsed through a silent exchange of pins in his bedroom.
A marquise arrives laughing with a secret: she has chosen a direct revenge on her jealous, abusive husband.
A coastal place-name preserves the story of an austere village priest whose hatred of desire turns violent on a storm-beaten cliff.
A bored baroness copies a window signal she sees across the street and discovers that curiosity can be taken as a business offer.
A duel between two dragoons reveals the secret arrangement of a widow known for piety and strict respectability.
A miserly woman refuses to replace her husband’s ruined umbrella—until an insurance policy suggests a way to avoid paying.
A family’s hatred of hunting begins with two brothers and the immense wolf that turns their winter chase into a private war.
An anticlerical village joiner wants a lucrative church contract, but the parish priest sets a spiritual price for the work.
A ferry passenger learns why an old friend’s marriage soured after his once-enchanting English bride became easier to understand.
An exhausted French detachment facing a deadly winter march finds unexpected resolve after taking two civilians under its protection.
