Long admired as a novelist and as an essayist, Elizabeth Hardwick (1916-2007) was also an accomplished writer of short stories. Born in Kentucky, Hardwick embraced New York City, celebrating the city in these 13 tales, including sharply observed narratives of a magazine editor whose life falls to pieces after she loses her job, and—in what is likely to be an autobiographical piece—a young woman returns from Manhattan to her childhood home and discovers the world of difference within her.

"Hardwick wrote when she had something to say, and she took her time; the impression of ease is owing strictly to her style. Not a poet, she produced a poet's prose."—Guardian (London)