Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beautiful Girl | 1979 | Alice Adams | Buy |
| 2 | To See You Again | 1982 | Alice Adams | Buy |
| 3 | Return Trips | 1985 | Alice Adams | Buy |
| 4 | After You’ve Gone | 1989 | Alice Adams | Buy |
| 5 | The Last Lovely City | 1999 | Alice Adams | Buy |
| 6 | The Stories of Alice Adams | 2002 | Alice Adams | Buy |
| 7 | Poolside | 2007 | Alice Adams | Buy |
Alice Adams published seven short story collections over nearly thirty years. Her stories appeared regularly in The New Yorker, and she was one of the most honored American short story writers of her generation, with multiple O. Henry Awards and frequent inclusion in Best American Short Stories.
Her collections explore recurring subjects: women in mid-life, failed romances, class tensions in California, and the aftershocks of decisions made years earlier. Beautiful Girl and The Last Lovely City are among the strongest individual collections, but The Stories of Alice Adams, published after her death, is the best single-volume overview of her work.