Woolson's writing was never better than when she was grappling with the ambivalence of men like [Henry] James toward women like herself. . . . Her short stories demonstrate irony, force and feeling that occasionally surpass the stories of Edith Wharton and Howells, rivaling 'the Master' himself even as they take aim directly at his privilege and presumptions.--Amy Gentry
An American realist of a high order. . . . The writing in all of [Woolson's stories] is remarkably good, but it is the American stories that will send the reader looking for more of Woolson's work.--Vivian Gornick
[Woolson was] more than the smitten confidante of Henry James. . . . 'Solomon' and 'St. Clair Flats' are particularly fine, meticulously delineating the natural beauty of eastern Ohio and the Great Lakes Region.--Brenda Wineapple
Like Jane Austen, Woolson's protagonists knew and understood their place within the rigid social ladder of acceptable convention, and her portraits are vivid, picture perfect snapshots of that time and place . . . Rioux reintroduces an American master of regionalism and local color.--Nancy Powell
A potent . . . [and] exciting volume. . . . These finely-crafted, place-rooted stories are startling in their mythic atmosphere, vital descriptions, and elegiac tributes to lost worlds. They are charged with a quietly ferocious tension between old-fashioned structures and the progressive psychological portraits shaped by Woolson's compassion and penetrating vision. . . . Woolson belongs in every American literature collection.
An intriguing collection of seven of Woolson's sophisticated, modernist short stories . . . small but captivating. . . . This collection includes stories set in the South, the Great Lakes, Florence, and London, reflecting Woolson's cosmopolitan worldview, and embodying a strong sense of place with an equally strong sense of character.--David Holmberg
With a forward by Toibin and an introduction by Rioux, this volume carefully sequences seven of Woolson's notable stories. . . . It is striking just how accessible Woolson's style is throughout. . . . As Rioux's work has made plain, Woolson proved her detractors wrong.--Rebecca Foster
