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
