Short Family

What goes better with mistletoe and merriment than the sweet beginnings of romance?

These interrelated stories are arranged in two sections, one devoted to virtues ("Bravery", "Loyalty", "Chastity", "Charity", and "Forbearance") and the other to vices ("Lust", "Sloth", "Avarice", "Gluttony", and "Vanity"). They are cast with characters who appear and reappear throughout the collection, their actions equally divided between the praiseworthy and the loathsome.

This short story might well have been called, "All I Even Needed to Know About Humanity I Learned From Chickens". At times humorous, at times sympathetic, the author reveals the inadequacies of chickens and then points to our own inadequacies. As much as we hate chickens we can despise the things we believe are lacking in our own lives. That’s the philosophy of the story, perhaps it is equally enjoyable as a story about a family that just can’t seem to move far enough away from demented fowl.

Although best known for such long novels as Our Mutual Friend and The Old Curiosity Shop, Charles Dickens also wrote many wonderful short stories with both a supernatural and a humorous twist. This is one of his best.

These stories introduce us not only to ordinary people seeking to live extraordinary lives, but also to the skunk ape (a southern variant of Bigfoot), the ghost of Jesse James, and a bone-tired Jack the Giant Killer. Whether it's Appalachia, Nashville, the Carolina Coast, or a make-believe land of talking dogs, each world Earley creates is indelible.

If only reality could resemble the fantasy of what pregnancy is supposed to be like - the brimming excitement, the feelings of significance, a healthy glow. But for Jenny, a young mother-to-be recently relocated from NYC to the suburbs, pregnancy hasn't done a thing to cure her incessant self-doubt and loneliness.

This short story by Bruce Buckingham takes place in Vero Beach, Florida, home to world famous Indian River citrus. It's the story of a 10-year-old boy helping his grandfather as they struggle against a rare freeze that threatens the old man's beloved orange grove. It is a story of their struggle against nature, and a struggle to find love and acceptance between an old man and his grandson.

Marie and Simone, friends for decades, were once immigrants to the city after they survived World War II in Europe. Now widows living alone in Chelsea, they remain robust, engaged, and adventurous, even as the vistas from their past interrupt their present. Helen is an art historian who takes a painting class with Marie and Simone.

This collection of short fiction from Elizabeth Harrower features a number of previously unpublished works and 'Alice', which was published for the first time in The New Yorker in 2015. Internationally acclaimed for her five brilliant novels, Elizabeth Harrower is also the author of a small body of short fiction. A Few Days in the Country & Other Stories brings together for the first time her stories published in Australian journals in the 1960s and 1970s along with those from her archives.

"Local color" author Frances Gilchrist Wood wrote this powerful tale of a young wife who proves better able to succeed on the homestead frontier than does her husband.

Three years after a series of massive waves takes out New York City and apocalyptic weather continues to shrink US coastlines, Julian and Kate's daughter returns to their Midwestern home...what's left of it. They should be thrilled, but while Kate is happy to have her daughter home, Julian can't quite believe it's really her. Since their daughter worked in New York City at the time of the first disaster, it seems impossible for her to be alive.

Jill only wanted to get along, but it seemed like Shannon lived to make her miserable. She was ruthless and used whatever she could to get under her skin and destroy her mentally and even financially. She had never met this woman and wondered how could someone be so evil. Her husband Daniel seemed to be the good Christian, who refused to get all worked up over her foolishness and plots.

Listen to four stories about Rosa and her family: "A Chair for My Mother" (A Caldecott Honor Book); "Something Special for Me"; "Music, Music for Everyone"; and "A Chair for Always". This collection also includes "Cherries and Cherry Pits" and an interview with the author.

Enter the spell-binding worlds of best-selling author Robert Stanek and dream a new dream. Contains the stories "Absolutes", "Silence is Golden", and "August Rains".

DI Peter Johns was brought up in a children's home. He never expected to know his parents and never wanted to. He is unsure how to react when his mother makes contact with him and asks to meet. Follow his thoughts and feelings as he faces this unexpected development in his life.

Deserted by her husband, Audrey was forced to raise her sons, Erick and Robert, alone. When Erick continued a downward path with the wrong crowd, despite Audrey's intervention, his luck ran out after he repeatedly disobeyed the law and was sent to jail. Preoccupied with how she could have saved Erick from a life of crime, Audrey stuck by her son, visiting him every week and prayed that he would see the light and clean up his life.

Friends First is a testament to the power of faith and to the resilience of the human spirit. As a teenager, Fiona is rescued from an alcoholic, abusive father by her boyfriend, Cliff. His family, who take Fiona in, convince her that she is in no way to blame for her father's drinking and his physical and verbal abuse. Feeling unsure and lacking confidence, Fiona clings to Cliff whom she sees as her savior until they eventually marry. Her marriage to Cliff would seem liked a "happily ever after" ending. But, once again, life events intervene.

It sounds innocent enough. A young boy's mother decides she wants carpet in her kitchen. But sometimes those simple little decisions change lives in ways you might never imagine, and when those changes come for a young boy and his family, they leave a lasting impact that threatens to not only destroy their house, but their home as well. This short story by Thomas L. Scott takes the listener along a path that is at once heartbreaking, hopeful, honest and inspirational. You'll want to listen to it again and again.

Peter Herring was the center of Anne's universe in college, and now, a few years later, he's become the center of Anna's, and merely a minor player in his ex-girlfriend's world. That is, until Peter and Anna are invited into Anne's parents' home to visit with her dying mother, and he finds himself drawn back into her orbit. Years later, when her own mother is dying, Anna will find herself yearning to reach out to Anne, with whom she had shared such a brief but intimate bond, and find solace in that moment from long ago.

Ed and Kim experience unexpected consequences when they try to reunite their adopted daughter with her Native American heritage. The couple decides to take turns splitting their time between their Seattle condo and the second home they've built on the Montana prairie so Kaitlyn can get to know her birthplace.