Short stories by Jean Stafford

Jean Stafford was an American short story writer and novelist, known for her works such as The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1970. She was born in 1915 in Covina, California, and passed away in 1979. Throughout her career, she contributed extensively to literary magazines like The New Yorker and earned recognition for her poignant storytelling and vivid characterizations.

Listing 16 stories.

During a Northeastern winter in their new isolated country home, a woman slowly succumbs to the gaslighting and manipulation of her husband.

The wife of a poet documents her marriage of five years as it tumultuously unravels during one summer in Maine.

A young pen pal unexpectedly visits a retired professor after their enthusiastic, months-long correspondence. However, their meeting in person goes much less smoothly than their previous communication.

A boy comes to live at an Indian reservation after being orphaned when his grandmother dies.

A woman with an aversion to yelling regrets her wish to be deaf so that she does not need to marry her fiance who is being argumentative.

A reclusive woman in the Metropolitan Museum of Art sees a former acquaintance from a distance. She tries to avoid him, but fate brings them together again.

Two adult sisters reunite only to relive the trauma from their tumultuous and life-altering childhood.

After seeing a familiar name in the phone book, a woman decides to visit the house where she studied abroad years before.

In a town full of people with tuberculosis, the healthy young daughter of a nurse is teased by two wealthy but frail sisters. When she is caught lying about the cause of her father's death, the girl must figure out how to be proud of who she is.

An older woman who never married is preparing for Christmas when a young boy knocks on her door to sell her a wreath.