Synopses & Reviews
From the grand master of the American short story, these fourteen tales of domestic life in the South during the thirties and forties explore that extraordinary world of manners, expectations and unspoken understanding. The reader is drawn as if by magnetic force into a world rendered in breathtaking, painterly detail. These stories are marvelous entertainments, rich with amusement, yet Taylor renders his characters truly and understands them in a profoundly meaningful way.
Review
"An American masterpiece . . .a generous, incomparably rewarding introduction to the work of the American writer who, more than any other, has achieved utter mastery in short fiction."--
Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World
About the Author
Peter Taylor, the author of eight story collections and three novels including
A Summons to Memphis, which won the Pulitzer Prize,
In the Tennessee Country, and
A Woman of Means,died in 1994. A Tennessee native, he had lived for years in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife, poet Eleanor Ross Taylor.
Table of Contents
The Gift of the Prodigal
The Old Forest
Promise of Rain
Bad Dreams
A Friend and Protector
A Walled Garden
Allegiance
The Little Cousins
A Long Fourth
Rain in the Heart
Porte Cochere
The Scoutmaster
Two Ladies in Retirement
The Death of a Kinsman