2,813 words (12–16 minutes)
Genre(s): Literary Fiction, Crime/Redemption
First Published: The Cosmopolitan, April 1903

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When expert safecracker Jimmy Valentine is unexpectedly pardoned from prison, he plans to return to his old life—but fate has other plans. A chance encounter in a quiet Arkansas town sets him on a path toward honesty, love, and transformation. As Jimmy sheds his criminal past and builds a new identity, he must choose between the life he's always known and the future he's come to cherish. A classic tale of redemption, identity, and quiet heroism, “A Retrieved Reformation” captures O. Henry’s genius for irony, heart, and dramatic reversals.