A continuation of the popular Very Christmas Series, this collection brings together the best French Christmas stories of all time in an elegant and vibrant collection featuring classics by Guy de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet, plus stories by the esteemed twentieth-century author Irene Nemirovsky and contemporary writers Dominique Fabre and Jean-Philippe Blondel.

With a holiday spirit conveyed through sparkling Paris streets, opulent feasts, wandering orphans, kindly monks, homesick soldiers, oysters, crayfish, ham, bonbons, flickering desire, and more than a little wine, this collection encapsulates the holiday spirit.

This is Christmas a la francaise–delicious, intense, and unexpected, proving that nobody does Christmas like the French.

Guy de Maupassant is revered for his naturalistic fiction, which brilliantly captures flesh-and-blood characters as it evokes the most telling details of everyday life. Considered one of the finest French novels ever written, Bel Ami follows journalist Georges Duroy and his increasing stature among the Paris elite. With an immense thirst for power, Georges is not above an almost gleeful use of wealthy mistresses to achieve his ends.

On allait là, chaque soir, vers onze heures, comme au café, simplement. Ils s’y retrouvaient à six ou huit, toujours les mêmes, non pas des noceurs, mais des hommes honorables, des commerçants, des jeunes gens de la ville ; et l’on prenait sa chartreuse en lutinant quelque peu les filles, ou bien on causait sérieusement avec Madame, que tout le monde respectait. Puis on rentrait se coucher avant minuit. Les jeunes gens quelquefois restaient.

Lecture du Horla, de Guy de Maupassant (1887).
“Déchéance progressive et dramatique du narrateur poursuivi par une créature invisible, baptisée « le Horla », dont il ne sait si elle est réelle ou le résultat d’un trouble psychiatrique.”

Il y avait autrefois dans cette ville une vieille dame, très vertueuse et protectrice de la vertu, qui s’appelait Madame Husson. Tu sais, je te dis les noms véritables et pas des noms de fantaisie. Mme Husson s’occupait particulièrement des bonnes oeuvres, de secourir les pauvres et d’encourager les méritants. Et donc, cette Madame Husson va créer un prix de vertu, pour une rosière. Sauf que… Vous aimez la tendresse pour les faibles, les imparfaits, la mise à jour des petites faillites quotidiennes ? Hop ! Un bain de Maupassant s’impose. Autres nouvelles : Un échec, Le modèle, Enragée ?, Une vente, L’assassin, La Martine, Une soirée

Ce livre audio comprend les nouvelles : Mademoiselle Fifi, Madame Baptiste, La Rouille et Marroca. Quatre textes dans lesquels Maupassant fait montre de son talent à la fois de conteur d’histoires, et de critique de l’âme humaine, les bassesses et les maladresses sont racontées avec réalisme, mais aussi avec tendresse.

A vague jealousy, one of those dormant jealousies which grow up between brothers or sisters and slowly ripen till they burst, on the occasion of a marriage perhaps, or of some good fortune happening to one of them, kept them on the alert in a sort of brotherly and non-aggressive animosity. They were fond of each other, it is true, but they watched each other. Pierre, five years old when Jean was born, had looked with the eyes of a little petted animal at that other little animal which had suddenly come to lie in his father’s and mother’s arms and to be loved and fondled by them. Jean, from his birth, had always been a pattern of sweetness, gentleness, and good temper, and Pierre had by degrees begun to chafe at ever-lastingly hearing the praises of this great lad, whose sweetness in his eyes was indolence, whose gentleness was stupidity, and whose kindliness was blindness. His parents, whose dream for their sons was some respectable and undistinguished calling, blamed him for so often changing his mind, for his fits of enthusiasm, his abortive beginnings, and all his ineffectual impulses towards generous ideas and the liberal professions. Since he had grown to manhood they no longer said in so many words: “Look at Jean and follow his example,” but every time he heard them say “Jean did this — Jean does that,” he understood their meaning and the hint the words conveyed.

Beautifully simple and marvelously strong, the stories of Guy de Maupassant have enchanted generations around the world. One of the finest short story writers of all time, de Maupassant believed that the most heart-wrenching and powerful moments in life lay in the simple events of daily life, and he proved it by turning those moments into timeless stories. In addition to The Diamond Necklace, this collection includes six of de Maupassant’s most popular stories: Boule de Suif; The Piece of String; Beside Schopenhauer’s Corpse; Mademoiselle Fifi; Miss Harriet; and The Legend of Mont St. Michel.

Guy de Maupassant was a master of the short-story genre, producing more than three hundred during his lifetime. These concise stories contain twists and shocking turns, and range from the fantastic and supernatural, with characters descending into madness and their most base desires, to the challenges of marriage and parenthood, and to the broader philosophical ruminations on the nature of regret and what it means to love.

The twenty-eight stories in this collection include “The Horla” (a chilling tale of one man’s descent into madness); “The Diary of a Madman” (a respected judge with a dark secret); “The Artist” (a skilled performer seeks revenge on his wife, who happens to be his costar); “The Diamond Necklace” (a poor woman borrows a diamond necklace and disaster strikes); “A Coward” (a man instigates a duel and struggles to face his own fear); “In the Moonlight” (a priest opens his eyes to love in unexpected places); and more.

Throughout his amazing career, Franz Kafka created some of the most haunting, timeless, and enduring images of the nightmare world of everyday life. First published in 1915, “The Metamorphosis” is one of Kafka’s most famous works. The story begins when traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes from a series of disturbing dreams to discover that he has transformed overnight into a giant insect. Instead of arousing surprise or horror in his family, however, Gregor’s condition is merely despised as an imposition, a burden.
In addition to Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” this collection includes eight pieces by one of the fathers of the modern short story, Guy de Maupassant: “The Englishman,” “The Piece of String,” “The Necklace,” “A Crisis,” “The Will,” “Love,” “The Inn,” and “Was It a Dream?”

A lesson on the power of vanity, “The Necklace” tells the story of Madame Mathilde Loisel and her husband. Mathilde always imagined herself as a socialite with beautiful gowns and wonderful jewels. Her husband, however, is a lowly clerk and the two have little money. Desperate to attend an important party, she borrows a friend’s diamond necklace to match the dress her husband bought for her. But when Mathilde loses the expensive jewels, she nearly destroys her life in an effort to pay back the debt.

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