A surrealistic novel on two families in Philadelphia, one made up of real people, the other of dolls who have a life of their own. This is just one of several plots in the book. Another deals with the 19th century writer Edwina Moss, an expert on home economics, writing a book on Antonin Careme who was Napoleon's chef and became famous for his desserts. By the author of The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf.

"For the first time, the complete stories of a Pulitzer Prize-winning master of the form, plus her fascinating portrait of the mother of one of the world's most infamous assassins"-- For more than three decades Jean Stafford wrote masterful short fiction, perfecting a versatile style marked by acute psychological insight, an exacting eye for detail, and a bitingly satiric sensibility. Whether in Europe, New England, Colorado, or New York, her mostly...