Taking Care

A collection of "uncommonly good stories" (The Chicago Tribune) from a true American master of the short story—disturbing, comic, and moving takes that find deeper meanings in ordinary domestic life.

With unforgettable characters, places, and events—a young divorcee, a shared summer home, a troubled family, a wedding, the death of a pet—Williams takes her readers on journey after journey, as only she can."Prose of indiscriminate radiance.... These stories are closest in spirit to Flannery O'Connor and Joyce Carol Oates. Like fine music they circumvent the intellect ... we gaze directly into the soul of her characters." —The Washington Post

"Wonderfull crisp writing, consistently percipient and witty." —The New York Times Books Review

"Uncommonly good stories: sharp-edged, smart about life, and mitred into this excellent collection with great care." —The Chicago Tribune Joy Williams is the author of four novels—the most recent, The Quick and the Dead, was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in 2001—and three other collections of stories, as well as Ill Nature, a book of essays that was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Among her many honors are the Rea Award for the Short Story and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was elected to the Academy in 2008. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, and Laramie, Wyoming.