11 h 12 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 12 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Step into a quiet garden, where strange ideas unfold with a straight face and human nature supplies the surprises.
In John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein, Frank R. Stockton brings together eleven tales of adventure, romance, and human nature. The garden gives these stories a quiet setting: a place to stop, sit, and listen. Beyond that calm frame lie journeys, risks, and the odd choices people make when tempted, puzzled, or in love.
Stockton treats an absurd situation as though it makes perfect sense. His plain, reasonable voice lets the strangeness speak for itself, while dry humor gives the telling a sly smile. Adventure brings movement, romance brings feeling, and the leisurely pace leaves room for polite speech and a small joke tucked inside a long sentence.
What you’ll discover
- A garden for listening Settle into a quiet place where stopping to hear a story feels natural.
- Strange ideas, straight faces Enjoy the contrast between an odd situation and the calm voice that describes it.
- Adventure with surprises Follow journeys and risks that give these leisurely tales their sense of movement.
- Romance and human nature Meet people whose temptations, puzzles, and feelings reveal the odd ways they behave.
- Humor worth lingering over Take your time with dry wit and small jokes woven into the telling.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like short stories told aloud, gentle comedy with a straight face, tall tales and love stories, and listeners who talk back to the teller.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The listeners help shape every tale
- Wonders arrive beneath a stranded ship
- Almia chooses action over official permission
- An extraordinary trance creates ordinary troubles
- Simple living requires elaborate hidden work
- A companion takes charge of courtship
- Amanda hears her own story retold
- Love becomes a test of honesty
- The shared voice holds everything together
Who’s who
- John GaytherThe elderly gardener who has been a sailor, soldier and miner, and who tells tales while trimming pea sticks.
- The Daughter of the HouseA young woman in gold spectacles who loves a good story and wants it to end kindly.
- The Mistress of the HouseThe lady of the garden, a sharp listener who understands the usual course of stories and people's lives.
- The Master of the HouseA hearty navy captain home from sea who comments on every plot in sailor's language.
- The Next NeighborA lively young married woman and close friend of the daughter, who tells a tale of her own.
- The Old ProfessorA very old mathematician and friend of the family who tells how he won his wife.
- The FrenchmanA visiting sportsman who tells of hunting tigers from a balloon with his wife Irene.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein
by Frank R. Stockton · 1902
A gardener sharpens pea sticks while family and friends trade eleven tales, from sunken ships to a ballooning tiger.
Medium level5–10 hours to read16 languages
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In short
Picture an old gardener on a low stool, a knife in his hand, sharpening pea sticks he does not need. He is not really working.
John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 15 min4 h 55 min fast, 7 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 89,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1902by Frank R. Stockton
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A gardener's stool becomes a storytelling place
The book opens with the garden itself. John Gayther does not own it. He looks after it for a fine old family, yet he fits the place so closely that a stranger might take him for its founder.
He has been a sailor, a soldier, a miner and a rancher. The Mistress of the House loves flowers in great heaps. She thins them out with cheerful recklessness and tosses them on the path, where John gathers them up.
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Which edition is right for me
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer. Your place follows you, and you can make the type as big as you like.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1902
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Stockton, Frank R. John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/john-gaythers-garden-and-the-stories-told-therein.
Stockton, F. R. (2026). John Gayther's garden and the stories told therein. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/john-gaythers-garden-and-the-stories-told-therein (Original work published 1902)
Stockton, Frank R. John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/john-gaythers-garden-and-the-stories-told-therein.
@book{stockton2026john,
author = {Stockton, Frank R.},
title = {John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/john-gaythers-garden-and-the-stories-told-therein},
note = {First published 1902}
}
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What is John Gayther's Garden about?
It is about a gardener and the family he serves, who spend a summer telling each other stories in a garden summerhouse. Eleven tales follow, from a sunken treasure ship to a tiger in a balloon, with the listeners commenting throughout.
Who tells the stories in John Gayther's Garden?
Each chapter names its teller. John Gayther tells three. The others are told by the Daughter, the Mistress and the Master of the House, the Frenchman, the Old Professor, the Next Neighbor, and by Pomona and Jonas through a manuscript.
Is John Gayther's Garden a true story?
No. Frank R. Stockton, who died in 1902, invented the garden and every story told in it. The tales are meant as comic fiction, and the characters often argue about how true to life each one is.
The author
Frank R. Stockton
1834–1902 · American novelist and humorist
Frank R. Stockton was an American writer born in Philadelphia in 1834. He wrote novels, short stories, and books for children. Ting-a-Ling appeared in 1870, and John Gayther’s Garden and the Stories Told Therein appeared in 1902. He lived in New Jersey and West Virginia. He died in 1902.
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