The short story is one of the finest forms of writing. Dating back to the early traditions of oral storytelling, the short story has evolved through the ages. As the oriental tale and Gothic novel gained popularity in the latter half of the eighteenth century, short story began developing in Britain. And by the beginning of the nineteenth century, it had highly evolved as a form.
In this carefully crafted selection, we bring to you some of the greatest writers from around the world. This outstanding and wide-ranging collection of stories is designed for readers to refresh their acquaintance with some of the world’s finest writing and for newer readers to be introduced to it.
Best Short Stories to Read Online
1. The Confession by Guy de Maupassant
2. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
3. Salvatore by W. Somerset Maugham
4. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
5. The Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway
6. A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf
7. Monday or Tuesday by Virginia Woolf
8. After Twenty Years by O. Henry
9. The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte
10. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
11. A Cup of Tea by Katherine Mansfield
12. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe
13. The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane
14. The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry
15. A Retrieved Reformation by O. Henry
16. A Municipal Report by O. Henry
17. The Last Leaf by O. Henry
18. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
19. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
20. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
21. Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
22. After the Race by James Joyce
23. The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
24. A Mother by James Joyce
25. The Dead by James Joyce
26. The Open Window by Saki
27. Kabuliwala by Rabindranath Tagore
28. The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs
29. A Christmas Tree and a Wedding by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
30. A Little Cloud by James Joyce
31. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
32. The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce
33. The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
34. The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov
35. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
36. The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde
37. The Devoted Friend by Oscar Wilde
38. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
39. The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
40. The Bet by Anton Chekhov
41. What Was It? by Fitz James O’Brien
42. My Own True Ghost Story by Rudyard Kipling
43. Quality by John Galsworthy
44. To Build a Fire by Jack London
45. MS. Found in a Bottle by Edgar Allan Poe
46. The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams
47. Luck by Mark Twain
48. By the Waters of Babylon by Stephen Vincent Benet
49. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
50. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
51. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman