Public-domain ebook
Changeling, and Other Stories
by Donn Byrne
Language: en13,740 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Short Stories·Crime, Thrillers and Mystery·Novels
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #59892.
About this book
Don Byrne’s Changeling, and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction rooted in Irish social life, first published in 1923. The volume opens with a lyrical dedication in which an “Old Poet” urges the author to release his tales into the world, warning that stories without friends will die like orphaned children or stray animals. The first story, “Changeling,” thrusts the reader into a drab New York courtroom where the murder of Alastair de Vries is being tried. Byrne paints the scene with meticulous detail, the half‑darkened room, the solemn jurymen, the nervous witnesses, and the striking, almost mythic appearance of the accused, Anna Janssen, whose golden‑bronzed skin and silver‑moon eyebrows set her apart from the ordinary crowd. The narrative builds a dense atmosphere of doubt, gossip, and the lingering echo of a bygone Broadway, hinting at the larger tapestry of stories that follow.
Byrne writes with a richly descriptive, almost theatrical voice that blends early‑20th‑century American slang with a hint of Irish storytelling tradition. His prose is dense, layered with long sentences that capture the bustling energy of city life and the weight of legal drama. Readers who relish atmospheric, character‑driven tales, especially those interested in historical New York, courtroom intrigue, or the moral complexities of the Irish diaspora, will find this collection engaging. The work’s period flavor, marked by its 1920s publication and references to contemporary figures, offers a vivid snapshot of a world on the brink of modernity, appealing to fans of literary nostalgia and nuanced social commentary.
Characters in Changeling, and Other Stories
- Anna JanssenYoung woman, golden‑bronzed skin, silver‑moon eyebrows, dark hair, elegant 1920s attire
- Alastair de VriesTall aristocratic man, sharp features, dark hair, tailored suit, solemn expression
- Lord Justice O'ConnorElderly Irish judge, white hair, powdered wig, black robe, dignified bearing
The opening · free to read
I'm sorry for it, said the Old Poet, for it won't have a friend in the world.
When it comes to the publishing of books, people are always pessimistic, and, in my case, always right. Success, I am sufficient of a heretic to believe, matters little, but friendship a great deal. And I could as little think of sending a story friendless into the world as I would of sending a child, or horse, or dog. So "Changeling" itself I will put under the friendly hand of the Right Honorable the Lord Justice O'Connor, who will find law treated in it in a dégagé manner that will surprise even him. And "The Parliament at Thebes" I dedicate to Addison and Josephine Hanan.
For Bulmer and Clare Hobson, near Three-Rock Mountain, is "Delilah, Now It Was Dusk," and for Brinsley MacNamara, that splendid Irish novelist, "Wisdom Buildeth Her House." And "In Praise of Lady Margery Kyteler" for Arthur Somers Roche, in memory of a chivalrous kindness.
"Reynardine" for Miss OEnone Somerville and in memory of Martin Ross--their pens were one of the lost Irish glories. "Irish" for Jeffrey Farnol--none more than he loves and understands the Ring. And I am sorry there is not a story of war and its intricacies in the collection to dedicate to my friend Lieutenant-General J. J. O'Connell.
I have not by hundreds come to the end of those whom I love to think my friends; but so many of them are sportsmen that to dedicate stories to them would be like giving a two-year-old racer to a maiden and church-going lady, loading her with responsibility and embarrassment, so that--
So that the rest of the stories can go out and make friends for themselves, and if they can't, 't was surely a poor hand that wrote them.
Donn Byrne.
By the Cinque Ports, England. 1923.
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