A lesson on the power of vanity, "The Necklace" tells the story of Madame Mathilde Loisel and her husband. Mathilde always imagined herself as a socialite with beautiful gowns and wonderful jewels. Her husband, however, is a lowly clerk and the two have little money. Desperate to attend an important party, she borrows a friend's diamond necklace to match the dress her husband bought for her. But when Mathilde loses the expensive jewels, she nearly destroys her life in an effort to pay back the debt.
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Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) was a popular nineteenth-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form’s finest exponents. A protégé of Flaubert, his stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouement. Many of the stories are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, and several describe the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught in the conflict, emerge changed. He authored some three hundred short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse.
Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, an Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded over six hundred titles spanning many genres and holds a bachelor's degree in English literature. A voracious reader and listener, she was raised in Connecticut and Hawaii but now splits her time between California and New York.