William Pett Ridge

James Sanderson is a ticket collector on the railways, but he and his family are ambitious. He gains promotion, while his son does well in a City firm. The daughter has musical talent. The novel describes their aspirations sympathetically, though with humour, and we see other families go down the social scale while they rise. Gradually the children grow away from their parents. A novel without much dramatic incident, but with keen observation of working-class and lower-middle class lives.

Thanks to Sanderson

Madame Prince

Next Door Neighbours

Andy Adams

Eleanor H. Porter

Francis Marion Crawford

Arnold Bennett

Margaret Oliphant

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Kenneth Grahame

Gertrude Stein

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

John Buchan

Anthony Hope

Alice Duer Miller

A. E. W. Mason

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Edward Bellamy

Otis Adelbert Kline

Hugh Walpole

Fitz James O'Brien

Barry Pain

Mór Jókai

Arthur Quiller-Couch

Flora Annie Steel

Amelia B. Edwards

John Ulrich Giesy

S. Baring-Gould

Charlotte Riddell

B. M. Bower

Gilbert Parker

Julian Hawthorne

Frank Richard Stockton

Richard Middleton

Jacques Futrelle

H. and E. Heron

Daniil Kharms

Ella D'Arcy

Pierre Louÿs

Ethel Richardson

Bertha Sinclair

Valery Bryusov

Gertrude Bennett

Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford

Elizabeth Garver Jordan

Richard Austin Freeman

Leonard Merrick

Ethel Watts Mumford

Anne O'Hagan Shinn

Frank Lucius Packard

E.F. Benson

This book contains 350 short stories from 50 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. Wisely chosen by the literary critic August Nemo for the book series 7 Best Short Stories, this omnibus contains the stories of the following writers: - Sheridan Le Fanu - H. and E. Heron - Charlotte Riddell - Flora Annie Steel - Amelia B. Edwards - Margaret Oliphant - Edward Bellamy - Arnold Bennett - S. Baring-Gould - Daniil Kharms - E.F. Benson - John Buchan - Ella D'Arcy - Jacques Futrelle - Frank Richard Stockton - John Kendrick Bangs - Kenneth Grahame - Julian Hawthorne - A. E. W. Mason - Richard Middleton - Pierre Louÿs - Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole - Ethel Richardson - Gertrude Stein - E. Phillips Oppenheim - Arthur Quiller-Couch - Mór Jókai - Andy Adams - Bertha Sinclair - Fitz James O'Brien - Eleanor H. Porter - Valery Bryusov - John Ulrich Giesy - Otis Adelbert Kline - Paul Laurence Dunbar - Frank Lucius Packard - Barry Pain - Gertrude Bennett - Francis Marion Crawford - William Pett Ridge - Gilbert Parker - Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford - Elizabeth Garver Jordan - Richard Austin Freeman - Alice Duer Miller - Leonard Merrick - Anthony Hope - Ethel Watts Mumford - Anne O'Hagan Shinn - B. M. Bower

Best Short Stories Omnibus - Volume 3

A Novel

A Clever Wife

Nine to Six-thirty

The Slippery Ladder

William Pett Ridge was born at Chartham, near Canterbury, Kent on 22nd April 1859.His family’s resources were certainly limited. His father was a railway porter, and his son, after schooling in Marden, Kent became a clerk in a railway clearing-house. The hours were long and arduous, but self-improvement was his goal. After working from nine until seven o’clock he attended evening classes at Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institute and then he would write. From 1891 his humourous sketches were published in the St James's Gazette, the Idler, Windsor Magazine and other literary periodicals of the day. He was heavily influenced by Dickens and critics thought he might be his successor.Pett Ridge published his first novel in 1895, A Clever Wife. By his fifth novel, Mord Em'ly, three years later, his success was obvious. His writing was written from the perspective of those born with no privilege and relied on talent to find humour and sympathy in his portrayal of working class life.Today Pett Ridge and other East End novelists including Arthur Nevinson, Arthur Morrison & Edwin Pugh are grouped together as the Cockney Novelists. With his success Pett Ridge gave generously of both time and money to charity. In 1907 he founded the Babies Home at Hoxton, one of several children’s organisations His circle considered Pett Ridge to be one of life's natural bachelors. In 1909 They were rather surprised therefore when he married Olga Hentschel. As the 1920’s arrived Pett Ridge added to his popularity with the movies. Four of his books were adapted into films. Pett Ridge now found the peak of his fame had passed. He still managed to produce a book a year but was falling out of fashion and favour with the reading public. His canon runs to over sixty novels and short-story collections as well as many pieces for magazines and periodicals.William Pett Ridge died, on 29th September 1930, at his home, Ampthill, Willow Grove, Chislehurst, at the age of 71.

"Mrs. Baynes Accepted the List, Inspected It, Then Tore the Page Into Several Pieces''

William Pett Ridge

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