And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer

I picked up this book on the recommendation of blogger 金仔.

It is a collection of 15 short stories,

some fictional and others inspired by real life incidents.

 

I enjoyed reading most of the short stories.

What I like about them most is that

often when I have just settled in the flow of the stories,

something changes and I find the stories heading to an unexpected direction.  

So you will be constantly pondering what will happen next.  

And once you’ve finished with the one you have been wrestling with,

you will want to explore the next one right away and see what’s the twist at the end.  

The fact that most of the stories are only a few pages long added extra delight.

 

My favourite is “A Queen’s Birthday Telegram”,

a funny story about a little secret an old man discovered about his wife

when he questioned the Queen’s office about

why the telegram from the Queen to congratulate her 100^th birthday never arrived.

I also like the hilarious "The undiplomatic diplomat". 

A third generation diplomat who always did things out of place

got demoted to work in a library and got himself well-versed with every statutes. 

On discovering a not very well-known statute about territory,

he ‘captured’ a remote island

hoping to do honour to his great diplomat forefathers

only to find what he ended up with

was embarrassment to the nation instead.

 

And there is also the funny “No Room at the Inn ”,

 which is about a poor young traveller’s juicy encounter

with a pretty Italian front desk staff of an inn.

 

"Politically Correct" is another exemplification of

how Jeffrey Archer is good at twists and turns. 

The story is about a man suspecting a neighbour to be a terrorist. 

It’s very captivating and the end so unpredictable

that it dropped my mouth open in surprise!