Eighty short stories by a master of the genre
O. Henry's comic eye and unique, ironic approach to life's realities are unmatched. These stories about con men and tricksters and "innocent" deceivers, about fate, luck, and coincidence have delighted generations of readers. Set in New York and the West, in Central America and the South, they demonstrate O. Henry's mastery of speech and place, and highlight his appreciation of life's quirks.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than...

CD: American English

With a new Introduction by Professor Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D.

This selection of a hundred of O. Henry's succinct tales displays the range, humour and humanity of a perennially popular short-story writer.

Here Henry gives a richly colourful and exuberantly entertaining panorama of social life, ranging from thieves to tycoons, from the streets of New York to the prairies of Texas.

These stories are famed for their 'trick endings' or 'twists in the tail' repeatedly the plot twirls adroitly, compounding ironies. Indeed, O. Henry's cunning plots surpass...