Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916), better known as Saki, was a peerless master of the short story – with the wit of Oscar Wilde, the breeziness of P.G. Wodehouse and the macabre edge of Roald Dahl. This rich collection gathers together his very best, all of them classics by a writer at the peak of his powers. With his trademark black humour, Saki subverts the conventions of Edwardian society and pops the bubble of upper-class pretension. He conjures up the child's point of view – the wonder of the forbidden place, the anger at injustices perpetrated by cruel adults, the delight of a carefully exacted revenge. And he sends shivers down the spine with his tales of the supernatural.
Author
Known British writer Hector Hugh Munro under pen name Saki published his witty and sometimes bitter short stories in collections, such as The Chronicles of Clovis (1911). His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time. His works include * a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude; * two one-act plays; * a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name; * a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ; * the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ; * and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced Alan Alexander Milne, Sir Noel Pierce Coward, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.
