The Southern Woman Lib/E: New and Selected Fiction

Review "[A] Southern writer whose best fiction merits comparison with the work of Katherine Anne Porter and Eudora Welty."-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)""Narrator Hillary Huber adeptly crafts new voices for each story, offering an aristocratic drawl one moment and a folksy twang the next. Characters burst to life in her evenly paced performance...Graceful prose and a velvet-voiced narrator make this collection noteworthy."-- "AudioFile""Spencer's world-view even in the shorter vignettes is broad, and her keen eye and ear for domestic detail will interest those with a penchant for John Cheever or Alice Munro. This career-spanning collection should firmly secure her place in the canon of American short story masters."-- "Publishers Weekly" Product Description Since 1944, when she published her first story, Elizabeth Spencer has been acclaimed as a writer of short fiction in the great tradition of Welty, Chopin, and Mansfield. This collection celebrates a six-decade career devoted to the art of the story. About the Author Elizabeth Spencer was born in Mississippi in 1921. Her first book, Fire in the Morning, was published in 1948, but it was the publication of The Light in the Piazza in 1960 that brought her widespread acclaim, becoming a New York Times bestseller and the basis of a major motion picture. Her writing is distinguished by fine craftsmanship and intense plotting that reveals the essential nature of the characters. She is a five-time recipient of the O. Henry Award for short fiction. She lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.Hillary Huber is one of the most successful voice talents in Los Angeles. Recent books read for Blackstone Audio include Him, Her, Him Again, the End of Him by Patricia Marx, A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read, and A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart. From AudioFile This collection is best enjoyed as one would enjoy an August evening in Savannah: slowly, with ample time for languorous reflection. Individually, these stories offer well-crafted microcosms of the American South, peopled not just with the "steel magnolia" women and tragic Faulkner-esque males typical of this type of fiction, but also with surprising, complex individuals who inspire empathy. Narrator Hillary Huber adeptly crafts new voices for each story, offering an aristocratic drawl one moment and a folksy twang the next. Characters burst to life in her evenly paced performance. The stories tend to end emphatically and move briskly to the next title, so it's best to pause after each one to let its beauty sink in. Graceful prose and a velvet-voiced narrator make this collection noteworthy. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine