Lucia Berlin; Edited by Stephen Emerson; Foreword by Lydia Davis

ContentsForeword: "The Story Is the Thing" by Lydia Davis viiIntroduction by Stephen Emerson xix Angel's Laundromat / 3Dr. H. A. Moynihan / 9 Stars and Saints / 17 A Manual for Cleaning Women / 26 My Jockey / 39 El Tim / 41 Point of View / 51 Her First Detox / 56 Phantom Pain / 61 Tiger Bites / 69 Emergency Room Notebook, 1977 / 88 Temps Perdu / 98 Carpe Diem / 106 Toda Luna, Todo Año / 110 Good and Bad / 125 Melina / 137 Friends / 145 Unmanageable / 151 Electric Car, El Paso / 155 Sex Appeal / 159 Teenage Punk / 164 Step / 167 Strays / 170 Grief / 179 Bluebonnets / 194 La Vie en Rose / 203 Macadam / 210 Dear Conchi / 211 Fool to Cry / 221 Mourning / 236 Panteón de Dolores / 242 So Long / 252 A Love Affair / 261 Let Me See You Smile / 272 Mama / 303 Carmen / 310 Silence / 320 Mijito / 333 502 / 356 Here It Is Saturday / 363 B.F. and Me / 376 Wait a Minute / 380 Homing / 388 A Note on Lucia Berlin / 401 Acknowledgments / 405

One of The New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2015One of Jezebel's Favorite Books of 2016A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the Laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers and bad Christians.Readers will revel in this remarkable collection from a master of the form and wonder how they'd ever overlooked her in the first place. "Perhaps, with the present collection, Lucia Berlin will begin to gain the attention she deserves." -Lydia Davis