Once upon a time, before Atheneum in New York took a chance on an unknown author and published "Staggerford" (1977), Jon Hassler wrote a number of short stories that introduce many of the characters in his later novels. Only a handful of these stories had appeared in print (mostly in small literary magazines) until Afton Historical Society Press published the best-selling "Keepsakes" and "Rufus at the Door".

Since 1977, Jon Hassler's Staggerford series has entranced readers with its funny and charming depiction of life in small-town America. The New Woman is his latest visit to this Minnesota hamlet.

At the age of eighty-eight, Agatha McGee has grudgingly moved out of her house on River Street and into the Sunset Senior Apartments. She's not happy about giving up her independence, and Sunset Senior's arts and crafts activities and weekly excursions to the Blue Sky Casino are hardly a consolation. Meanwhile two of her close friends pass away, her nephew Frederick is drifting into depression, and a kidnapped little girl has suddenly appeared on her doorstep. With characteristic poise and dignity, Agatha takes on her problems and finds that the bonds of friendship and family are still the key to happiness at any age. Affectionate and life-affirming, The New Woman is another delightful trip to a town with a soul as real as rural America itself.

The Best American Catholic Short Stories captures twenty of the best short stories from thirteen American Catholic writers over the past seventy-five years. Spanning most of the twentieth century, the stories in this collection deal with many of the issues brought into the spotlight with Vatican II. One ongoing area of controversy, of course, is in the very notion of Catholic fiction. What constitutes a work as "Catholic"? This new collection, with its rich variety of themes, styles, and tones, takes an important step in answering this question. Pat Schnapp and Dan McVeigh have assembled an extraordinary sampling that is unique in its subject and scope. Major contributors include Mary Gordon, Flannery O'Connor, Ron Hansen, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and Richard Russo.