From the publisher: "O'Connor published her first story when she was working on her master's degree at the University of Iowa. Arranged chronologically, this collection shows that her last story, "Judgement Day"--sent to her publisher shortly before her death—is a brilliantly rewritten and transfigured version of "The Geranium." Taken together, these stories reveal a lively, penetrating talent that has given us some of the most powerful and disturbing fiction of the twentieth century. Also included is an introduction by O'Connor's longtime editor and friend, Robert Giroux."

Some of my best and most meaningful school reading experiences came from those moments when I sat back, stunned, and thought I didn't know an author could DO that on the page!" So it goes with Flannery O'Connor, widely regarded as one of the all-time finest writers of short stories and Southern fiction. I encountered this specific groundbreaking collection, highly regarded even today for its originality, as a high school junior, and was by turns captivated and repulsed by its shocking, reverential, almost mythical, and often grotesque content. I can still remember reading my first O'Connor story in English class: we dove straight into the deep end with "A Good Man is Hard to Find." A jarring introduction to be sure, but it made me want to come back for more.