Collected stories

Mary Lavin (1912-1996) wrote short stories and novels. An Irishwoman she is now regarded as a pioneer in the field of womens writing. Many critics consider her to be one of the greatest short story writers of her day. Yet the full range of her finest work was never available to the American public in one volume until this book was published. The twenty-two stories collected here have been selected from eight of Miss Lavins published volumes beginning with her earliest prize-winning TALES FROM BECTIVE BRIDGE (1943). A number of them have never before appeared in America either singly in magazines or in the American editions of her books. All of Mary Lavins stories are set in Ireland and shaped by the mores of Irelands people its farmers its aristocrats its clergy. More to the point all of her stories are set in the subtlest and most telling regions of human behavior.