About the Book: The famous novelist Orhan Pamuk has said – “I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.” StoryMirror has been instrumental in changing the lives of people by providing a unique platform for writers and readers alike. Storytelling or reading stories – transitions one into another realm, to explore various shades of human emotions. Each story teaches us something, makes us ponder and provides an opportunity for some soulful reflection. In this hectic and monotonous life, a storybook can help us dream, make us believe in fairies, keep us lively, give us hope and some stories can even give us the courage to deal with our day-to-day problems. It is rightly said by George Saunders, “When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you.” It is a difficult task to choose a handful of stories from the plethora of interesting content on StoryMirror but the very best stories have been selected and brought to you by the means of this book. They are a result of the hard work and determination of promising writers. The writers have questioned their imagination and desire for writing and presented to us their most imaginative, engrossing, fascinating and gripping creations. This collection of short stories will provide an opportunity for the readers to access the best stories and also bear ample evidence to the vast corpus of work on the StoryMirror website. We hope it touches your heart and soul. Hope you have a great reading experience!

I ought to tell you at the beginning that I am not quite normal having had a violent experience at the age of nine' Jessica Vye's 'violent experience' colours her schooldays and her reaction to the world around her- a confining world of Order Marks, wartime restrictions, viyella dresses, nicely-restrained essays and dusty tea shops. For Jessica she has been told that she is 'beyond all possible doubt', a born writer. With her inability to conform, her absolute compulsion to tell the truth and her dedication to accurately noting her experiences, she knows this anyway. But what she doesn't know is that the experiences that sustain and enrich her burgeoning talent will one day lead to a new- and entirely unexpected- reality.

Winner of the Christianity Today Book Award, Fiction In Eden Mine, the award-winning author of Black River examines the aftershocks of an act of domestic terrorism rooted in a small Montana town on the brink of abandonment, as it tears apart a family, tests the faith of a pastor and the loyalty of a sister, and mines the deep rifts that come when the reach of the government clashes with individual freedom If I stay here, Jo, I know you could find me. If you wanted to, you could find me. For generations, the Fabers have lived near Eden Mine, scraping by to keep ahold of their family's piece of Montana. Jo and her brother, Samuel, will be the last. Despite a long battle, their property has been seized by the state through eminent domain—something Samuel deems a government theft. As Jo packs, she hears news of a bombing. Samuel went off to find work in Wyoming that morning, but soon enough, it's clear that he's not gone but missing, last seen by a security camera near the district courthouse?now a crime scene?in Elk Fork. And the nine-year-old daughter of a pastor at a nearby church lies in critical condition. Can the person Jo loves and trusts most have done this terrible thing? Can she have missed the signs? The last time their family met violence, Jo lost her ability to walk. Samuel took care of her, outfitted their barn with special rigging so she could still ride their mule. What secrets has he been keeping? As Jo watches the pastor fight for his daughter, watches the authorities hunt down a criminal, she wrestles with an impossible choice: Must she tell them where Samuel might be? Must she choose between loyalty and justice? Between the brother she knows and the man he has become? A timely story of the tensions splintering families and communities all over this country, S.M. Hulse's Eden Mine is also a steady-eyed gaze into the ideals of the West and the legacies of violence, a moving account of faith in the face of evil, and a heartrending reckoning of the terrible choices we make for the ones we love.

29 and unmarried, gasp! - can you think of anything worse? In 1920s rural Canada, Valancy Stirling is considered "past it" and with a controlling, nagging mother and petty gossips for relatives she feels trapped in the life she has ended up in and when she is diagnosed with a terminal heart condition and given a year to live, it seems she will die without ever experiencing happiness. And so, she rebels. She leaves her family home slamming the door as she does and moves in with her old friend Cissy and starts working as a housekeeper. The independence is intoxicating - as is a growing friendship with local man, Barney Snaith. It looks as though Valancy will have love to warm her heart in her final months. But secrets on both sides threaten to ruin things. The intoxicating story of love and loss is perfect for fans of Elizabeth Gaskell and Jodie Picoult. Lucy Maud (L.M.) Montgomery was a Canadian author best known for a series of children's books beginning with 'Anne of Green Gables'. The books were a huge hit in her lifetime and were recently made in the Netflix series 'Anne with an E'. Montgomery published 20 novels, 530 short stories, 500 poems and 30 essays in her lifetime. Most were set in Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island.

A story of magic, family, a mysterious stranger . . . and a band of marauding raccoons. Otter Lake is a sleepy Anishnawbe community where little happens. Until the day a handsome stranger pulls up astride a 1953 Indian Chief motorcycle – and turns Otter Lake completely upside down. Maggie, the Reserve’s chief, is swept off her feet, but Virgil, her teenage son, is less than enchanted. Suspicious of the stranger’s intentions, he teams up with his uncle Wayne – a master of aboriginal martial arts – to drive the stranger from the Reserve. And it turns out that the raccoons are willing to lend a hand.

All the children are warned not to go near Miz Berlin because she is the strange lady who tells stories to herself. But one day Mary Louise decides to see for herself what Miz Berlin is all about and finds out that she is simply a lovely storyteller