Known for her vivid portrayals of Creole life in Louisiana, Kate Chopin (1851–1904) wrote, during her brief literary career, poignant and perceptive stories about the emotional lives of women. Bypassing many of the conventions of 19th-century realism, she won praise for her realistic portraits of the inhabitants of bayou and urban areas. This collection of nine stories contains one of her most famous works, "Désirée's Baby" — a haunting and ironic tale of miscegenation. Additional stories include "Madame Célestin's Divorce," "A Gentleman of Bayou Téche" and "At the 'Cadian Ball," from Bayou Folk; "A Respectable Woman," "A Night in Acadie" and Azélie" from A Night in Acadie; "The Dream of an Hour" and the title story. Written with grace, delicate humor and a keen understanding of the human — especially the female — psyche, these stories are a superb introduction to an important American writer whose literary career was cut short by the harsh criticism directed at her novel The Awakening (1899).

Includes nine masterful portraits of black and white inhabitants of Louisiana's bayou and urban areas. Written with grace, delicate humor, and a keen understanding of the female psyche.

The extraordinary biographical novel about a Chinese-American woman who fought for independence and dignity in the American West—“an important contribution to the history of pioneer women” (Ms. Magazine) Lalu Nathoy’s father called his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his “thousand pieces of gold”—yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloonkeeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. With over a quarter of a million copies sold, Thousand Pieces of Gold is a classic of biographical historical fiction that stars an unforgettable Chinese-American heroine whose struggles put a human face on the anti-immigration policies of the past and present.

Mrs. Louise Mallard, afflicted with a heart condition, reflects on the death of her husband from the safety of her locked room. Originally published in Vogue magazine, “The Story of an Hour” was retitled as “The Dream of an Hour,” when it was published amid much controversy under its new title a year later in St. Louis Life. “The Story of an Hour” was adapted to film in The Joy That Kills by director Tina Rathbone, which was part of a PBS anthology called American Playhouse. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

A pretty book of tales drawn from life among the Creoles and Acadians of Louisiana. They represent with fidelity and spirit characters and customs unfamiliar to most readers ; they are admirably told, with just enough dialect for local color; and they can hardly fail to be very popular. Some of these stories are little more than croquis — just a brief incident of idea sketched in with a few rapid strokes and left to the imagination of the reader to be materialized, if we may so speak. Others are longer and more finished, but all are full of that subtle, alien quality which holds the Creole apart from the Anglo-Saxon — a quality we do not quite understand and can never reproduce, but which is full of fascination to us from the very fact that it is so unlike ourselves.