The tiger in the grass : stories and other inventions / Harriet Doerr

The tiger in the grass -- First work: The flowering stick -- Carnations -- The extinguishing of great-aunt Alice -- Mexico: The seasons -- Sun, pure air, and a view -- The local train -- Way stations -- The watchman at the gate -- Saint's day -- Memory: Please -- Low tide at four -- Like heaven -- A sleeve of rain -- Edie: a life

As she recounts in the moving opening piece of this collection, Doerr published her first novel at the age of 74. Now 85, she looks back on the intervening years of marriage, children, and her years spent living in Mexico as an exercise in memory for her grown children. This and the final reminiscence frame the incandescent stories at the center, many of which are set in Mexico. Fans of Stones for Ibarra (1984) will be happily reunited with Richard and Sara Everton and their colorful neighbors and villagers. The closing piece, "Edie: A Life," tells of the woman who came to work as a housekeeper for the author's family after her mother's death, lived with them until the children were grown, and remained a fixture in their lives until her own death. Written with great tenderness and understanding, these stories and "inventions" are perfectly evocative of a long life well lived.

English