W. W. Jacobs is best remembered today for the horror story ‘The Monkey’s Paw’, but in his own time he was celebrated above all as a comic writer of extraordinary skill and precision. Sea Urchins collects his nautical sketches — short, perfectly constructed stories of the Thames waterfront, cocky bargemen, and the irresistible rogue known universally and affectionately as the nightwatchman.
Jacobs’s ear for cockney dialogue and his gift for comic timing are among the best in the language. Download this free EPUB and pull up a bollard on the wharf for the evening.