Short Stories/Novellas

Mrs. H.T. Miller, a widow comfortable with her solitary existence, is frightened by a mysterious young girl who keeps appearing at her front door

One of the great masters of lyrical melancholy, Truman Capote remains admired for both his fiction including Breakfast at Tiffany's and the pioneering In Cold Blood , a non-fiction novel telling the true story of a brutal murder. Penguin Modern Classics publish the full range of Capote's novels and short stories, and the four tales in this collection show to the full the blend of cynicism, humour and love that characterized his finest work.

An underprivileged boy is determined to guess the amount of money in and thereby win a jug of silver coins so that he can do something very special for his sister

First published in 1956, this much sought-after autobiographical recollection of Truman Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic. We are proud to be reprinting this warm and delicately illustrated edition of A Christmas Memory --"a tiny gem of a holiday story" ( School Library Journal , starred review). Seven-year-old Buddy inaugurates the Christmas season by crying out to his cousin, Miss Sook Falk: "It's fruitcake weather!" Thus begins an unforgettable portrait of an odd but enduring friendship between two innocent souls--one young and one old--and the memories they share of beloved holiday rituals.

Set in a small Southern town in the 1930s, this classic work tells the story of three endearing misfits--an orphaned boy and two whimsical old ladies--who one day take up residence in a tree house. Now a major motion picture from Fine Line Features, starring Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Piper Laurie, and Nell Carter.

'...We were sitting on the porch, tutti-frutti melting on our plates, when suddenly, just as we were wishing that something would happen, something did; for out of the red road dust appeared Miss Bobbit.' Truman Capote's bewitching short stories, many of which were set in the Deep South of his youth, are among his finest works. Perceptive, sensitive and eloquent, filled with brooding atmosphere and gorgeous description, these three stories tell of genteel eccentrics, evocative childhood memories and a malevolent nocturnal meeting. This book includes: "Children on Their Birthdays", "A Christmas Memory", and "A Tree of Night".

One unforgettable Christmas, young Truman Capote is sent from his childhood home and his beloved cousin Miss Sook to New Orleans, to a father he's never met. Far from the warmth and familiarity of small town dreams and family traditions, Truman learns the painful truths about his father, about Santa Claus, and about love lost and found.

Bobby, a West Virginia boy, moves with his family from the rural home of his grandparents to the city where his father hopes to find a better job