The Necklace and Other Paris Stories

Stories in this collection

10 stories

• The NecklaceA borrowed jewel offers a clerk’s wife one dazzling evening in the world she longs to enter.
• The False GemsA husband’s certainty about his happy marriage is disturbed by his wife’s apparently inexpensive jewelry.
• The RendezvousA woman on her way to meet her lover finds a spring afternoon full of tempting reasons to delay.
• The DoweryA newly married couple’s trip to Paris exposes the uneasy relationship between affection and money.
• The UmbrellaA damaged umbrella turns household thrift into a determined battle over an insurance claim.
• An Adventure in ParisA provincial woman visits Paris hoping to experience the glamorous life she has imagined from afar.
• A SoireeA music-loving provincial notary follows his artistic ambitions into an unpredictable Parisian evening.
• Waiter, A ‘Bock’A chance meeting in a café prompts a withdrawn acquaintance to explain why he has turned away from life.
• TombstonesA Parisian recounts a cemetery encounter that makes the performance of mourning difficult to read.
• The MustacheA woman’s letter turns a missing mustache into a playful argument about attraction, memory and appearances.