The Necklace

The Necklace has a classic twist ending, something which all short story editors usually hate. Then again, when you're choosing short stories for a competition, you often read 15 short stories in a row, so it's not surprising that short story judges often end up jaded. As editor of Authortrek, my approach will be different, as I seek to nurture new writing talent. However, given that the public will be paying for these short stories, I will still maintain high standards by editing submissions to make them better if need be (a lot of entries to short story competitions fall by the wayside because they only have something minor wrong with them). Of all de Maupassant's short stories, this has stayed with me the longest, due to the quite unnecessary suffering that Mathilde and her husband put themselves through. This story still has lessons for us today, as consumerism is even more rampant now than it was then.