Showing results by author "Bret-Hart" in All Categories

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.

Francis Bret Harte was born on 25th August 1836 in Albany New York. As a young boy Harte developed an early love of books and reading. He first published at the tender age of 11, his satirical poem ‘Autumn Musings’. Expecting praise he received anything but and later wrote "Such a shock was their ridicule to me that I wonder that I ever wrote another line of verse." He was instrumental in propelling the short story genre forward and brought tales of the Old West and the Gold Rush to a greater audience.

Step into the rugged world of The Luck of Roaring Camp, where rough-hewn miners, chance, and the untamed frontier collide in unexpected ways. Bret Harte's masterful storytelling captures the raw beauty and unvarnished humanity of California's Gold Rush era. With its blend of grit, humor, and heartfelt emotion, this tale shines a light on the unlikeliest bonds and the transformative power of hope. Discover a story where the harshest landscapes yield the richest treasures — not of gold, but of the human spirit.

The American West. A landscape hewn in vastness as its rips from Plains, to deserts, to mountain, to ocean overlaid by waves of emigration of peoples either dispossessed or searching for a new life and the American dream. These are their stories. Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

Mrs. Skagg’s Husbands and Other Stories is a collection of short stories set in the American West, featuring colorful characters, rugged landscapes, and unexpected twists. With humor, drama, and sharp social observation, Bret Harte brings to life the lawless frontier and its larger-than-life inhabitants.