Short Story Review: "The Manchester Marriage" is not a story about a United fan married to a City supporter as one might think. Instead it's intended as a tear jerker (if it succeeds depends on whether the reader has a heart of stone). Just a bit of melodrama, with everyone simply human, no villains, nobody doing wrong, and everyone doing their duty as best they can despite the hap of life. To live is to serve. Some characters have to be able to change, and just who does so makes up part of the surprise at the end. The story turns on the twist of a secret with serious legal and psychological consequences. Times change, and what was a matter of life and death in 1858 would be the subject of a screwball comedy with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant in 1940. The first twist was predictable, though the ending not so much, and the resolution was both sad and gratifying. [3★]
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