King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: A Sister's Confession


author: Guy de Maupassant


genre: short story/classics


first line: Marguerite de Therelles was dying.


source: http://www.americanliterature.com/





A Sister's Confession opens with Marguerite de Therelles on her death bed and her older sister Suzanne, sobbing beside her.



Years ago Suzanne's fiance Henry died suddenly, and Marguerite swore she would never marry and never leave her sisters side. Marguerite however, was sickly and seemed unhappy after she promised to live with her sister forever.



When the priest arrives, Marguerite sits up suddenly in her bed and says she needs to confess. I won't tell you what the confession was, you'll have to read the story to find out.




This short story was so-so for me. The storyline was a bit too cliche for me, but then again this was written in the mid to late 1800's.


Guy de Maupassant did have me intrigued though, I really wanted to know what the confession was.


The one thing that bothered me about this story was that Marguerite's dialogue was annoying.

You remember? Oh, don't speak! Listen, listen. I, I alone did not die. But I have always been ill. Listen--he died--you know--listen--that was not the worst. It was afterward, later--always--the most terrible-listen.



My life, all my life--such torture! I said to myself: 'I will never leave my sister. And on my deathbed I will tell her all.' And now I have told. And I have always thought of this moment--the moment when all would be told. Now it has come. It is terrible--oh!--sister--

I will be reading more of Guy de Maupassant's short stories. I did enjoy The Necklace.





You can read A Sister's Confession for free online here.

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents.



Maupassant suffered from mental illness in his later years and attempted suicide on January 2nd, 1892. He was committed to a private asylum in Paris and died the following year.