These six not-so-short stories were deemed a "Notable Book" by The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the American Library Association. This paperback reprint edition was released fifteen years after the book first came out in hardback! “Outstanding…Marvelous…Utterly enjoyable…One of the finest collections of short prose I’ve read" - Houston Chronicle. “Smith’s watchful, bright…heroines read true. [She] is terrific at creating fresh, evocative, and absolutely right voices in these stories. She can move between the breathless and innocent self-creation of the college student in ‘The Bubba Stories’ to the brittle self-delusion of the professional ‘fiancée’ in ‘The Southern Cross’ with sympathy and understanding.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Lee Smith grew up in Grundy, Virginia, in the coalfields near the Kentucky and West Virginia lines. Lee Smith is the author of 13 novels and a memoir, along with three other story collections, all from major publishers. This and her overwhelming personality lead me to pronounce her the diva of Appalachian Literature.
New York: Berkeley/Penguin, a 2012 paperback reprint of a 1997 release. 287 pages. Trade paperback.