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The Victoria Reader: A Treasury of Timeless Stories
Victoria magazine continues a great tradition with an expansive and thoroughly engaging collection of works by such literary luminaries as Edith Wharton, Saki, H.G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, O. Henry, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Mark Twain (The £1,000,000 Bank Note) appears, along with P.G. Wodehouse (Something to Worry About) and Sarah Orne Jewett (Miss Becky's Pilgrimage). Thrilling intrigues, cherished fables, family revelations, social situations, romantic episodes, and comic interruptions: inside every story a magical and surprising world exists, waiting to be discovered. And this grandly oversized anthology promises an infinity of pleasures--the joy of encountering old favorites and meeting new ones; an escape into the hearts, minds, and spirits of a variety of characters; and a lavish mix of realism and fantasy, sentiment and satire, humor and adventure. Filled with memorable moments and unforgettable heroes, every enticing tale will be read over and over again.
About the Author
Michele Slung has been called "an editor and reviewer of unusual discrimination" (New York Newsday). Her books, which have been translated into ten languages, include the national bestsellers Momilies® : As My Mother Used to Say® and More Momilies® ; the influential mystery anthology Crime on Her Mind: Fifteen Stories of Female Sleuths from the Victorian Era to the Forties; and the Book-of-the-Month Club main selection, Murder & Other Acts of Literature. Most recently she has published Stranger: Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters and Living with Cannibals and Other Women's Adventures. She has been contributing a column on books and reading to Victoria since 1994.
About the Author
Michele Slung has been called "an editor and reviewer of unusual discrimination" (New York Newsday). Her books, which have been translated into ten languages, include the national bestsellers Momilies® : As My Mother Used to Say® and More Momilies® ; the influential mystery anthology Crime on Her Mind: Fifteen Stories of Female Sleuths from the Victorian Era to the Forties; and the Book-of-the-Month Club main selection, Murder & Other Acts of Literature. Most recently she has published Stranger: Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters and Living with Cannibals and Other Women's Adventures. She has been contributing a column on books and reading to Victoria since 1994.
512 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2003
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 24, 2025
Starts and ends rather poorly, but there are some real gems in between. Even the ones that didn't work for me had the advantage of being short. And I would guess some of the ones not to my taste please others better than they pleased me. Most of the stories are from the late Victorian into the Edwardian era, and those that aren't have that flavor. Sexism, racism, and classism run rampant in a few of these, but there are also tales the rise above the times
SOCIAL SITUATIONS
The Inconsiderate Waiter J. M. Barrie
Not so funny as the author hoped. Although I'm not a huge Barrie fan, so perhaps funnier to those who like his works.
Our Counsel at Carlsruhe R. J. Stimson
Predictable and dull.
The Lady and the Flagon Anthony Hope
Amusing. I liked. Maybe I should give Prisoner of Zenda another try, although this story was just silliness, which Zenda is not.
Expiation Edith Wharton
Quote from the story:
"The Bishop had the immense dialectical advantage of invalidating any conclusions at variance with his own by always assuming that his premises were among the necessary laws of thought. This method, combined with the habit of ignoring any classification by his own, created an element in which the first condition of existence was the immediate adoption of his standpoint..."
Yeah, I've known guys like that.
Not usually a big Wharton fan but this story involved me to the point that it wasn't predictable, even though the ending was probably inevitable considering the characters involved. Love it when that happens. Maybe I like Wharton better when it comes to short stories than novels, because I don't start thinking about the plot.
COMIC INTERRUPTIONS
The 1,000,000 Pound Bank Note Mark Twain
Okay.
The Disappearance of Crispina Umberleigh Saki
I generally enjoy Saki and this fit that pattern.
Poisson D'Avril Somerville and Ross
Painful. Every joke telegraphed and most of them based on cultural prejudice.
Baby Sylvester Bret Harte
Eh, whatever. Not a big Harte fan.
LINGERING ENCOUNTERS
The Door in the Wall H.G. Wells
Beautiful and sad.
The Master of the Inn Robert Herrick
Slow starter, but ultimately rewarding.
Green Gardens Frances Noyes Hart
Lyrical language, sad story.
Buttercup-Night John Galsworthy
Not so much a story as a meditation on life and death and man's relationship to nature with pretty scenery.
CHERISHED FABLES
The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Stockton
A modern fable that actually feels mythological! I liked it.
The Remarkable Rocket by Oscar Wilde
Starts out like an ordinary fairy tale but becomes a cynical personality study of an arrogant character. Entertaining enough. But then, I generally enjoy Wilde.
Happy Returns by Laurence Housman
A sappy little fairy tale. Fine but kind of pointless.
"Poet, Take Thy Lute" by Richard Le Gallienne
A tale about a guy whose father pitches him out on his ear because he is a failure as a cobbler and just wants to play his lute and write poetry. This story would work a lot better if his poetry/lyrics weren't so trite and awkward.
FAMILY REVELATIONS
An Old Wife's Tale by Ellen T. Fowler
I warmed to this quickly through the relationship between the old gentleman and the female narrator:
"Reading aloud to Mr. Weatherley was a liberal education to me, who, alas! in those days was terribly up-to-date. He would not listen to modern novels, which were as meat and drink to my intellectual palate; he preferred style to plot, and good English to mental analysis. He would rather discover the origin of a word than vivisect a woman's feelings; and he appreciated to regard the fathers and schoolmen as greater authorities than the leader-writers of the daily papers."
I am not sure when this was written and so not sure if I agree with Mr. Weatherley's actual opinions, but the clash between young and old literary tastes is completely relatable. The story itself is about the love and marriage of the man with his wife and is just lovely.
The Preliminaries Cornelia A. P. Comer
A young man's proposal of marriage plunges him into a situation far more complicated than he thought. A lot packed into this short story on what makes a man worthy and how important is society's opinion and where do you find happiness.
The Heart of Rachel Eleanor Mercein Kelly
A feel-good story that functions fine.
Miss Becky's Pilgrimage Sarah Orne Jewett
Read it quite happily but I'm not sure I like it. The first part was interesting; the second part it felt like people were doing things at random.
THRILLING INTRIGUES
A Princess's Vengeance C. L. Pirkis
A nice little mystery where you watch it being solved because the reader doesn't see everything the detective does.
The Monkey and the Box Edgar Wallace
A lightweight mystery. Entertaining enough for a one-time read.
A Scandal in Bohemia Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The first time I read this I was shocked at how little we see of Irene Adler considering what an impact she has had on the fandom. Once I got past that, in subsequent readings I grew to quite like her.
Miss Hinch Henry Sydnor Harrison
More suspense than mystery and quite readable.
ROMANTIC EPISODES
Fountainblue John Buchan
Romantic more like Byron or Keats than like a modern romance; more about nature and adventure and the meaning of life than about the courtship between a man and a woman.
While the Auto Waits O. Henry
I kind of like the heroine in this but I'm not much for the story. My problem with O. Henry stories is I always see the twist coming a mile away. That's probably part of the appeal for some but it makes them feel painfully predictable to me.
Between Two Shores Ellen Glasgow
Shipboard romance between two people with seemingly nothing in common. Worked for me.
Something to Worry About P. G. Wodehouse
A romance where the heroine is courted by a boatload of males. No one gets what they expect and nearly everybody gets what they deserve.
The Shrinking Shoe Walter Besant
A modern play on the Cinderella story. That whimsy and the more cynical aspects of the story didn't mesh well for me.
The Magic of a Voice William Dean Howells
A man creates a fantasy creation based on glimpses of a real woman, then grapples with the disappointing reality.
SOCIAL SITUATIONS
The Inconsiderate Waiter J. M. Barrie
Not so funny as the author hoped. Although I'm not a huge Barrie fan, so perhaps funnier to those who like his works.
Our Counsel at Carlsruhe R. J. Stimson
Predictable and dull.
The Lady and the Flagon Anthony Hope
Amusing. I liked. Maybe I should give Prisoner of Zenda another try, although this story was just silliness, which Zenda is not.
Expiation Edith Wharton
Quote from the story:
"The Bishop had the immense dialectical advantage of invalidating any conclusions at variance with his own by always assuming that his premises were among the necessary laws of thought. This method, combined with the habit of ignoring any classification by his own, created an element in which the first condition of existence was the immediate adoption of his standpoint..."
Yeah, I've known guys like that.
Not usually a big Wharton fan but this story involved me to the point that it wasn't predictable, even though the ending was probably inevitable considering the characters involved. Love it when that happens. Maybe I like Wharton better when it comes to short stories than novels, because I don't start thinking about the plot.
COMIC INTERRUPTIONS
The 1,000,000 Pound Bank Note Mark Twain
Okay.
The Disappearance of Crispina Umberleigh Saki
I generally enjoy Saki and this fit that pattern.
Poisson D'Avril Somerville and Ross
Painful. Every joke telegraphed and most of them based on cultural prejudice.
Baby Sylvester Bret Harte
Eh, whatever. Not a big Harte fan.
LINGERING ENCOUNTERS
The Door in the Wall H.G. Wells
Beautiful and sad.
The Master of the Inn Robert Herrick
Slow starter, but ultimately rewarding.
Green Gardens Frances Noyes Hart
Lyrical language, sad story.
Buttercup-Night John Galsworthy
Not so much a story as a meditation on life and death and man's relationship to nature with pretty scenery.
CHERISHED FABLES
The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Stockton
A modern fable that actually feels mythological! I liked it.
The Remarkable Rocket by Oscar Wilde
Starts out like an ordinary fairy tale but becomes a cynical personality study of an arrogant character. Entertaining enough. But then, I generally enjoy Wilde.
Happy Returns by Laurence Housman
A sappy little fairy tale. Fine but kind of pointless.
"Poet, Take Thy Lute" by Richard Le Gallienne
A tale about a guy whose father pitches him out on his ear because he is a failure as a cobbler and just wants to play his lute and write poetry. This story would work a lot better if his poetry/lyrics weren't so trite and awkward.
FAMILY REVELATIONS
An Old Wife's Tale by Ellen T. Fowler
I warmed to this quickly through the relationship between the old gentleman and the female narrator:
"Reading aloud to Mr. Weatherley was a liberal education to me, who, alas! in those days was terribly up-to-date. He would not listen to modern novels, which were as meat and drink to my intellectual palate; he preferred style to plot, and good English to mental analysis. He would rather discover the origin of a word than vivisect a woman's feelings; and he appreciated to regard the fathers and schoolmen as greater authorities than the leader-writers of the daily papers."
I am not sure when this was written and so not sure if I agree with Mr. Weatherley's actual opinions, but the clash between young and old literary tastes is completely relatable. The story itself is about the love and marriage of the man with his wife and is just lovely.
The Preliminaries Cornelia A. P. Comer
A young man's proposal of marriage plunges him into a situation far more complicated than he thought. A lot packed into this short story on what makes a man worthy and how important is society's opinion and where do you find happiness.
The Heart of Rachel Eleanor Mercein Kelly
A feel-good story that functions fine.
Miss Becky's Pilgrimage Sarah Orne Jewett
Read it quite happily but I'm not sure I like it. The first part was interesting; the second part it felt like people were doing things at random.
THRILLING INTRIGUES
A Princess's Vengeance C. L. Pirkis
A nice little mystery where you watch it being solved because the reader doesn't see everything the detective does.
The Monkey and the Box Edgar Wallace
A lightweight mystery. Entertaining enough for a one-time read.
A Scandal in Bohemia Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The first time I read this I was shocked at how little we see of Irene Adler considering what an impact she has had on the fandom. Once I got past that, in subsequent readings I grew to quite like her.
Miss Hinch Henry Sydnor Harrison
More suspense than mystery and quite readable.
ROMANTIC EPISODES
Fountainblue John Buchan
Romantic more like Byron or Keats than like a modern romance; more about nature and adventure and the meaning of life than about the courtship between a man and a woman.
While the Auto Waits O. Henry
I kind of like the heroine in this but I'm not much for the story. My problem with O. Henry stories is I always see the twist coming a mile away. That's probably part of the appeal for some but it makes them feel painfully predictable to me.
Between Two Shores Ellen Glasgow
Shipboard romance between two people with seemingly nothing in common. Worked for me.
Something to Worry About P. G. Wodehouse
A romance where the heroine is courted by a boatload of males. No one gets what they expect and nearly everybody gets what they deserve.
The Shrinking Shoe Walter Besant
A modern play on the Cinderella story. That whimsy and the more cynical aspects of the story didn't mesh well for me.
The Magic of a Voice William Dean Howells
A man creates a fantasy creation based on glimpses of a real woman, then grapples with the disappointing reality.
Displaying 1 of 1 review