The Door in the Wall, and Other Stories
by H. G. Wells (1866–1946)
- Free to read
- 3 hours to read
- 4 chapters
- Reading level: 7th grade
"The Door in the Wall, and Other Stories" by H. G. Wells is a collection of short stories written during the late 19th century. The opening story, "The Door in the Wall," introduces Lionel Wallace, a man who recounts a fantastical memory from his childhood about a door that leads to an enchanted garden. This memory serves as the focal point of his life, symbolizing the deep longings and regrets that haunt him as he struggles with the weight of adult responsibilities. At the start of the story, a narrator listens to Wallace as he reflects on a peculiar garden he discovered as a child, filled with beauty and companionship. Wallace describes his initial encounter with the door and the vibrant world it led him to, contrasting it with the mundane realities of his life. Despite his success in adulthood, he grapples with a profound sense of loss and regret for having abandoned that fantastical realm in pursuit of a conventional life. The narrative delves into themes of memory, longing, and the sacrifices made in the name of duty, leaving readers to ponder the impact of choices and the nature of true happiness.
- Short stories
- Science fiction, English
- Fantasy fiction, English
Read the opening
Chapter I
One confidential evening, not three months ago, Lionel Wallace told me this story of the Door in the Wall. And at the time I thought that so far as he was concerned it was a true story.
He told it me with such a direct simplicity of conviction that I could not do otherwise than believe in him. But in the morning, in my own flat, I woke to a different atmosphere, and as I lay in bed and recalled the things he had told me, stripped of the glamour of his earnest slow voice, denuded of the focussed shaded table light, the shadowy atmosphere that wrapped about him and the pleasant bright things, the dessert and glasses and napery of the dinner we had shared, making them for the time a bright little world quite cut off from every-day realities, I saw it all as frankly incredible. “He was mystifying!” I said, and then: “How well he did it!. . . . . It isn’t quite the thing I should have expected him, of all people, to do well.”
Keep reading The Door in the Wall, and Other Stories →
Download for your e-reader
Files are provided by Project Gutenberg. On a Kindle, the simplest route is to send the EPUB with Amazon’s Send to Kindle. Downloaded copies don’t sync with your place on Classic Book Reader.
About this edition
This free edition of The Door in the Wall, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #456, released 1996-03-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Short Stories, Science-Fiction & Fantasy, British Literature.
Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).
