Try our Advanced SearchShort stories by Elizabeth Enright
Elizabeth Wright Enright Gillham (September 17, 1907 – June 8, 1968) was an American writer of children's books, an illustrator, writer of short stories for adults, literary critic and teacher of creative writing. Perhaps best known as the Newbery Medal-winning author of Thimble Summer (1938) and the Newbery runner-up Gone-Away Lake (1957), she also wrote the popular Melendy quartet (1941 to 1951). A Newbery Medal laureate and a multiple winner of the O. Henry Award, her short stories and articles for adults appeared in many popular magazines and have been reprinted in anthologies and textbooks. In 2012 Gone-Away Lake was ranked number 42 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. The first two Melendy books also made the Top 100, The Saturdays (novel) and The Four-Story Mistake.
Listing 5 stories.
An afternoon at the park takes an unexpected turn for a mother and her son as the well-established families that they admire turn out to be unhappy people who secretly enjoy the misery of others. As the day progresses, the mother is surprised to learn that she and her son share many negative qualities with those families.
A teenage girl at a boarding school in the 1920s goes with her roommates, who are all very different from herself, to a school-sanctioned viewing of an eclipse. The experience has an unexpected impact on her.
A new mother wakes up after giving birth to her son and upon gazing at his face, feels an ephemeral peace that only comes once in a lifetime.
A young girl in the 1920s spends her evenings talking to her building operator while her mother is at work. When her favorite operator is fired, she is forced to quickly learn lessons about trust and relationships.
After leaving the south to live with her husband and raise her baby, an optimistic southern woman must adjust to the wintery weather and cold company of her new home.