Miss Muriel has been a favorite title of mine and I recommend it often. So I was overjoyed to see this new edition with a compelling foreword. I’ll definitely recommend this book to friends and family alike!

This is a wonderful collection of short stories by Ann Petry, whom I had yet to read or hear of before this. Her book, <i>The Street</i> was a bestseller in its time, and I can't wait to get my hand on a copy.

This collection was a nice blend of authors and style - Octavia Butler, Zora Neale Hurston, Gloria Naylor and Bradbury were a few who came to mind - and yet Petry evaded me until now. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who is a fan of the aforementioned authors and their style of writing about a town in general via vignettes of it's inhabitants.

The first few stories were about a Black family of pharmacists in a predominantly white vacation town, and the rest seemed to branch out from there, circa 1940's. A couple of my favorites include<i> Mother Africa</i>, the title story, <i>Mis Muriel </i>, and <i>The Bones of Louella Brown</i>, which were all a little tongue in cheek imo.

Anne Petry, is an author who I did not become acquainted with until watching the American Masters series on novels concerning socioeconomic class. That novel was The Street, a captivating and heartbreaking novel of a young black woman's struggle to thrive. Afterwards, I searched high and low for her work and was pleased to find this release of her short stories. I only wished I had found her work sooner. She is indeed an American Master of the literary field.

Outstanding books of short stories that I am very glad I was able to read. There are a variety of short stories in this book and I must say they all are good. So good you do not want to stop reading. But, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be "The Winding Sheet". Powerful This book may have been written a while ago, but the subject matter still resonates today. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC copy of this priceless book in return for my honest review. This book should be required for all high school students.