In 2015, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published a posthumous story collection by a relatively unknown writer. A Manual for Cleaning Women was acclaimed by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, London's Guardian, and NPR, variously comparing Lucia Berlin to Raymond Carver, Grace Paley, Alice Munro, and Anton Chekhov; the New York Times deemed it one of the Ten Best Books of the Year, and Dwight Garner said "Berlin probably deserved a Pulitzer Prize." This follow-up collects the best of Berlin's remaining stories—22 gems that showcase the gritty glamour that made readers fall in love with her—and was itself a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.