Lists of the Past: Stories of Julie Hayden

Whether Julie Hayden is describing a child astonished at his new perceptions, a distraught woman walking on Fifth Avenue with her concealed liquor flask or a pair of lovers on a country picnic, her writing is ardent and precise, placing us at the center of their lives, their destinies.

These stories (all but two appeared originally in The New Yorker), with their distinctive clarity, show us in a fresh way how pain and joy turn into knowledge.