The Stories of Alice Adams

About this book

Twenty-five of her stories appeared regularly in The New Yorker within a ten-year period. Others were published in The Paris Review Atlantic Monthly Cosmopolitan Redbook and McCalls. Her work was included in twenty-three O. Henry Award collections and she received first prize six times; she was represented in numerous collections of Martha Foleys Best American Short Stories. Now the best of Alice Adamss short fiction is gathered in one volume-fifty-three stories that illumine the hidden workings of human relationships. In "Verlie I Say Unto You " the unexpected death of Verlie Joness lover reveals the unsettling truth about her employers-that though they "couldnt get along without" Verlie their maid of ten years she is nothing more than a stranger to them. In "Berkeley House " a disenfranchised daughter anguished over the sale of her childhood home finally succeeds in winning the house back only to discover that it does not hold the key to her happiness and perhaps never did. In "Greyhound People " a woman repeatedly and purposely takes the wrong bus home from work after meeting its warm and disarmingly candid cast of passengers a refreshing and life-changing break from the coldly polite company she finds on the "right" bus-and at home. In story after story insight joins with grace to show us the truth about the lives of people around us. A moving and elegant collection and the capstone to the brilliant career of one of the most beloved American writers of our time.