The Queen of Hearts

Wilkie Collins's The Queen of Hearts (1859) is a collection of ten short stories held together by a frame narrative. Jessie comes to Wales to stay with three old brothers. George, one of the brothers' son is in love with her, but he is away from home. The brothers want her to delay her departure for ten days so that George can propose her on his return. Jesse agrees upon a condition that everybody will tell her a new story each evening. The Saturday Review wrote that These separate stories are exceedlingly well told. They are probable, interesting, and natural, and have the great merit that they stop when it is probable that in real life they would have stopped.