Saki was the pseudonym of short story writer Hector Hugh Munro. He adopted the name in 1900, and it's believed to have been taken from a character from the works of the Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. Most famous for his short stories, Saki also wrote novels and many articles of journalism. He remains an important figure in the tradition of modern English writers, although his politics and ideas may seem somewhat distant to us today. He left stories such as Tobermory, about a cat that learns to talk and can't be made to shut up. Or The Music on the Hill, about a woman who offends the god Pan and suffers the consequences. Or The Hounds of Fate, about a man who thinks he's outwitted his destiny only to find it closing in on him from an unexpected direction. In 1902 he moved to The Morning Post, described as one of the 'organs of intransigence' by Stephen Koss, to work as a foreign correspondent, first in the Balkans, and then in Russia, where he was witness to the 1905 revolution in St Petersburg. He then went on to Paris, before returning to London in 1908, where 'the agreeable life of a man of letters with a brilliant reputation awaited him.' Saki was a surprise ending short story writer and the ending of The Lull is a great fun surprise. The central character is a very stressed out young man running for political office. He has stopped for the night at the house of an aunt who sees he needs to badly forget politics for at least one night… You can listen online to free English audiobook “Lull” by Saki on our website.
