Paperback Edition
ISBN: 9781558614833
Publication Date: 12-15-2004

Edited by Susan Koppelman

In her heyday, between 1910 and the mid-1930s, Fannie Hurst was the most popular writer in America. Twenty-nine films were based on her novels and short stories. Her fiction was not only beloved by readers, but also acclaimed by reviewers and regularly included in Best American Short Stories. And yet not one of her books remains in print.

The publication of this selection of Fannie Hurst’s best short stories is sure to propel a long-overdue revival and reassessment of Hurst’s work. No reader of these thirty stories, spanning the years 1912 to 1935, can fail to recognize Hurst’s depth, intelligence, and artistry as a writer. Hurst was the one of the premier literary chroniclers of poor and working-class urban life in early twentieth-century America, especially the vibrant life of Jewish immigrant communities. She was also a pioneer in writing about the lives of working women, from maids to secretaries to garment workers, from prostitutes to artists. And she wove these threads into captivating, deeply human stories that capture her characters’ struggles, triumphs, conflicts, and loves.

"Fannie Hurst's work is part of the bedrock and architecture of the American short story. She wrote about people who worked, people who fell into the various abysses of city life, about love that saved a life and love that brought catastrophe to everyone around it, about families changing. She was unashamed of loving such a wide range of people, and she saw them and wrote them as clearly as she knew how. She is the mother of Grace Paley and Tillie Olsen, and of Philip Roth and Bernard Malamud as well." —Amy Bloom, author of Love Invents Us

"'Fannie Hurst unabashedly spoke to the human heart. That is the best epitaph for any writer.' So said the New York Times tribute to Hurst on her death in 1968. Perhaps a better epitaph still is the opportunity provided by this fine collection, assembled and introduced by Hurst's most astute and passionate champion, to see some of her best work back in print." —Brooke Kroeger, author of Fannie: The Talent for Success of Writer Fannie Hurst

"The stories in this collection make clear why Fannie Hurst remains one of the major short story writers in American literary history. The knowing and loving eye she casts on working-class people, whether in New York, St. Louis, or rural Ohio, will cause another generation of readers to celebrate her anew." —Annette Kolodny, author of The Lay of the Land