Maupassant is considered as one of the trendsetters like Somerset Maugham and O. Henry in the field of contemporary short story. He is famous for clever plotting and realistic art in displaying his subject. These works include My Wife, Paul’s Mistress, Rose, Saint Anthony. They have a feature in common: unpredicable plots and endings.

This book contains four short stories of Maupassant: My Wife, Paul’s Mistress, Rose and Saint Anthony. In My Wife, the author tells us that the marriage is like a lottery. One should take a number optionally rather than purposely. In Paul’s Mistress, Paul and Madeleine are a couple whom everyone envys. However, their love doesn't last so long, and unpredictably Madeleine falls in love with another woman. In Rose, the landlady is in favor of a maid who is good at making up. One day, the policemen send a search warrant and search for a criminal who is also a raper in her house. To all men's surprise, the maid is exactly the criminal, who, unpredictably, is a man. Saint Anthony tells a story between a Prussian soldier and the farm holder Saint Anthony. Their conflicts eventually turn into a murder.

Guy de Maupassant ( 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents. Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouements. Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, "Boule de Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880), is often considered his masterpiece.