O Henry

In The Gift of the Magi, a young married couple short on funds faces the challenge of buying Christmas gifts for each other. The wife's prized possession is her knee-length luxurious brown hair; the husband's, a fine gold watch that belonged to his father and grandfather. In order to purchase a gift for the other that is worthy of the holiday and of their love for each other, they each wrestle with a difficult choice. The story's sentimentality and...

Cabbages and Kings (1904) is a novel by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive in Honduras, the interconnected stories that make up Cabbages and Kings-the title refers to a line from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass-address themes of revolution, imperialism, exploitation, and greed. The novel is significant not only for launching O. Henry's career as a successful professional writer, but for coining the term "banana...

From America's favorite storyteller: A rich selection of twenty-five tales by the author of "The Gift of the Magi." Writing under the pseudonym O. Henry, William Sydney Porter was an incredibly prolific and popular master of the short story in the early twentieth century. His stories are known for being witty, playful, full of plot twists, and marked by surprise endings. The author had a special fondness for New York City and a deep interest and appreciation...

Here are sixteen of the best stories by one of America's most popular storytellers. For nearly a century, the work of O. Henry has delighted readers with its humor, irony and colorful, real-life settings. The writer's own life had more than a touch of color and irony. Born William Sidney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1862, he worked on a Texas ranch, then as a bank teller in Austin, then as a reporter for the Houston "Post." Adversity struck,...

Selected Stories of O. Henry, by O. Henry, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies...

Rolling Stones is a vast selection of O. Henry's later works covering a variety of topics such as fear, heartache, friendship, love and even murder. It's a worthy addition to his legacy of memorable characters and unpredictable plots. Rolling Stones was originally published in 1912, just two years after O. Henry's untimely, death. This collection consists of complete and incomplete stories that were revised prior to their release. For example, "The...

The Voice of the City (1908) is a collection of twenty-five short stories by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive and prisoner, these stories address themes of poverty and city life with humor and abundant empathy. Its focus on the regular, working class people of New York City makes The Voice of the City a sequel of sorts to Henry's The Four Million (1906), perhaps his most important collection. In "The Voice of the...

In O. Henry's Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, Stuffy Pete, a homeless New Yorker, always meets a kind older gentleman in Union Square on Thanksgiving who treats him to dinner. This year, Stuffy Pete is fed beforehand by two kindly ladies and he finds he has no appetite for a second dinner. Not wishing to disappoint the older man, Stuffy Pete must decide whether to dine again or decline. This heartwarming holiday story is a meditation on generosity...

A story of sacrificial love, The Gift of the Magi is a classic for the Christmas season and beyond. A husband and wife cannot afford to give each other presents unless they give up their own greatest treasures. With touching twists, O. Henry unfolds a story of profound implications.

A collection of short stories that fully describe the place and people they're about, along with endlessly inventive plot twists.