In today’s conclusion to “The Marriages,” we see the fruit borne of jealousy and carelessness.

Although sharply criticized by his English contemporaries, American author Henry James is now valued for his psychological and moral realism, his masterful creation of character, his low-key but playful humour, and his assured command of the English language.

Two things I find striking and worthy of special note in today’s selection by Willa Cather, “The Sculptor’s Funeral.” One is the sense of place that is keen in the story—that of a frozen, barren plains town in the throes of winter--which harkens back to her injunction, “Let your fiction grow out of the land beneath your feet.” The other is the great insight she displays in describing uneasy groups of men in this story—men gathered to receive a coffin in the frozen night and men gathered to mourn one not quite their own.

An English writer nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature four times, H.G. Wells was prolific in many genres, writing dozens of novels, short stories, works of social commentary, satire, biography and autobiography, including even two books on war games. In “The Red Room,” an overly confident visitor seeks to square off against the powerful superstitions of an ancient hour by entering a room with a horrible reputation.

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era.