The fate of Fenella

"The Fate of Fenella: A Novel by Helen Mathers et al." is a collaborative novel published in twenty-four parts between 1891 and 1892. This literary experiment features twenty-four different authors—including Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Frances Eleanor Trollope—each writing one chapter before passing the story along. Women wrote odd-numbered chapters while men wrote even-numbered ones, creating an alternating narrative. The result tells what contemporary reviewers called "an extremely silly story" with wavering characters and a ridiculous plot, yet somehow remains "fairly readable" and amusing.

The fate of Fenella, from the public domain. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #74782.