Lucia Berlin books

Lucia Berlin was an American short story writer whose posthumous collection A Manual for Cleaning Women brought her wide recognition in 2015.

Lucia Berlin Non-Fiction Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Welcome Home 2018 Buy
Love, Loosha: The Letters of Lucia Berlin and Kenward Elmslie 2022 Buy

Lucia Berlin Short Stories Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Musical Vanity Boxes 2016 Buy
The Wives 2020 Buy

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Welcome Home 2018 Buy
Love, Loosha: The Letters of Lucia Berlin and Kenward Elmslie 2022 Buy

Short Stories Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Musical Vanity Boxes 2016 Buy
The Wives 2020 Buy

Short Story Collections

Title Published Buy on Amazon
A Manual for Cleaning Women 1977 Buy
Evening in Paradise 1981 Buy
Angel’s Laundromat 1981 Buy
Phantom Pain 1984 Buy
Safe & Sound 1988 Buy
Homesick 1990 Buy
So Long 1993 Buy
Where I Live Now 1999 Buy

Lucia Berlin (1936-2004) was an American short story writer who published steadily during her lifetime but received limited mainstream recognition. She lived in many places, including Chile, Mexico, and various American cities, and her stories draw heavily on her own experiences as a cleaning woman, nurse, and teacher.

After her death, the 2015 republication of A Manual for Cleaning Women introduced her work to a much larger audience. The collection became a bestseller and established Berlin as one of the finest American short story writers of the twentieth century. Additional posthumous collections have followed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Lucia Berlin written?

Lucia Berlin has written sixteen books across five series.

What was Lucia Berlin's first book?

Lucia Berlin’s first book is A Manual for Cleaning Women, published in 1977.

When was Lucia Berlin's work rediscovered?

Berlin’s work gained widespread attention in 2015 when Farrar, Straus and Giroux republished A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories. The collection became a bestseller and brought Berlin’s writing to a new generation of readers, more than a decade after her death in 2004.

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