Chopin's The Awakening (1899) was controversial because of its frank treatment of an adulterous affair as well as the subject of female sexuality. Largely unread throughout most of the 1900s, it was rediscovered in 1972 and has since become a classic.

"The Necklace" (1884) by Guy de Maupassant, who is considered to be France's greatest short-story writer, includes a "trick ending" that has tragic results.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was a New England writer working at the same time as Chopin who was also considered a local colorist. "The Revolt of 'Mother'" (1891) tells a funny but serious story of a Massachusetts farm wife's assertion of independence.

Sarah Orne Jewett is another of Chopin's contemporaries who wrote regional fiction. Her collection of sketches about life in a fictional Maine coastal village, The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896), is an acclaimed example of local color...