A Manual For Cleaning Women Selected Stories Lucia Berlin Stephen Emerson by Lucia Berlin, Stephen Emerson, Lydia Davis 9781447294900, 1447294904, B01FXI13G8 instant download after payment.

"In the field of short fiction, Lucia Berlin is one of America's best-kept secrets. That's it. Flat out. No mitigating conditions."  -  Paul Metcalf 

With her trademark blend of humour and melancholy, Lucia Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday - uncovering moments of grace in the cafeterias and Laundromats of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Northern California upper classes, and from the perspective of a cleaning woman alone in a hotel dining room in Mexico City. The women of Berlin's stories are lost, but they are also strong, clever, and extraordinarily real. They are hitchhikers, hard workers, and bad Christians. 

"Loneliness and shame creep through stories set in hospitals, detox clinics, old people’s homes and prisons, but despite the frequently bleak territory Berlin’s writing is characterised by an enormous appetite for life, for humour and for love... Berlin’s style is direct, reaching out from the page to the reader... But this almost chatty style is undercut by brutal one-liners and swift reversals that, along with skilful narrative shaping, remind you that these are painstakingly crafted stories."  -  Catherine O'Flynn, The Guardian

With the wit of Lorrie Moore and the grit of Raymond Carver, they navigate a world of jockeys, doctors, and switchboard operators. They laugh, they mourn, they drink. Lucia Berlin, a highly influential writer despite having published little in her lifetime, conjures these women from California, Mexico, and beyond. Lovers of the short story will not want to miss this remarkable collection from a master of the form.