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Seven Stories
A master of the short form, Gina Berriault stands somewhere between Chekhov and Isaac Babel in style and psychological acuity.
"Berriault writes real fiction . . . She deepens reality, complements it and affords us the bliss of knowing, for a moment, what we cannot know." —The Nation
“A wonderful storyteller and a beautiful writer.” —Grace Paley
The seven stories—“Infinite Passion of Expectation,” “Tea Ceremony,” “The Mistress,” “The Overcoat,” “Stolen Pleasures,” “Works of the Imagination,” and “Women in Their Beds”—offer a glimpse into the oeuvre of one of the most celebrated voices in American letters.
"Berriault writes real fiction . . . She deepens reality, complements it and affords us the bliss of knowing, for a moment, what we cannot know." —The Nation
“A wonderful storyteller and a beautiful writer.” —Grace Paley
The seven stories—“Infinite Passion of Expectation,” “Tea Ceremony,” “The Mistress,” “The Overcoat,” “Stolen Pleasures,” “Works of the Imagination,” and “Women in Their Beds”—offer a glimpse into the oeuvre of one of the most celebrated voices in American letters.
144 pages, Paperback
Published July 26, 2022
10 people are currently reading
1675 people want to read
About the author
Gina Berriault
30 books45 followersBerriault was born in Long Beach, California, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. Her father was a freelance writer and Berriault took her inspiration from him, using his stand-up typewriter to write her first stories while still in grammar school.
Berriault had a prolific writing career, which included stories, novels and screenplays. Her writing tended to focus on life in and around San Francisco. She published four novels and three collections of short stories, including Women in Their Beds: New & Selected Stories (1996), which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. In 1997 Berriault was chosen as winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story, for outstanding achievement in that genre.
Berriault taught writing at the Iowa Writers Workshop and San Francisco State University. She also received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram-Merrill Fellowship, a Commonwealth Gold Medal for Literature, the Pushcart Prize and several O'Henry prizes.
She adapted her short story "The Stone Boy" for a film of the same title, released in 1984.[2] The same story had previously been adapted by another writer for a 1960 television presentation.[
Berriault had a prolific writing career, which included stories, novels and screenplays. Her writing tended to focus on life in and around San Francisco. She published four novels and three collections of short stories, including Women in Their Beds: New & Selected Stories (1996), which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. In 1997 Berriault was chosen as winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story, for outstanding achievement in that genre.
Berriault taught writing at the Iowa Writers Workshop and San Francisco State University. She also received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram-Merrill Fellowship, a Commonwealth Gold Medal for Literature, the Pushcart Prize and several O'Henry prizes.
She adapted her short story "The Stone Boy" for a film of the same title, released in 1984.[2] The same story had previously been adapted by another writer for a 1960 television presentation.[
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 8, 2023
Nemam šta da zamjerim kad je riječ o pisanju, ono je tečno, promišljeno, smisleno, u najkraćim crtama - na nivou. Ali znate onaj osjećaj kad čitate nešto i stalno vas prati osjećaj da vam neki segment prosto izmiče, ostaje nedorečen, dalek, kao da vas nikako ne dotiče? E to se meni desilo s većinom ovih priča. Možda prosto nije bio pravi trenutak za čitanje, nisam sigurna.
July 9, 2022
SEVEN STORIES by Gina Berriault is a stellar collection! I really enjoyed this book! Right away from the first story The Infinite Passion of Expectation I was enamoured with the writing and I loved the ending. I was enchanted with an aspect in each of these seven stories. I liked all the stories and my fave was Works of the Imagination which is about a man trying to write his memoir. These stories made me reflect on the past and show how writing can be timeless. And this little book is so cute!
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Thank you to Counterpoint Press for my gifted review copy!
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Thank you to Counterpoint Press for my gifted review copy!
November 30, 2023
Reading each of the 7 short stories in this collections was to experience exquisite moments of truth underlying human emotion. I plan to read all of Gina Berriault!
January 30, 2023
"Half the women of the world are right now in bed, theirs or somebody else's, whether it's night or day, whether they want to be or not."
I'm in bed right now, nabbing that precious moment for myself before the workday takes over. This week, every morning, I read one of these jeweled stories.
When I saw this little book at Three Lives Bookstore, I loved how it fit in my palm. I knew the stories would transfix me, because why else publish a woman whose modest fame is well in the past, and wasn't all that great to begin with? These stories weren't reissued in hope of exclamation points or a Netflix series, but out of a love.
And like whoever campaigned for this book, I loved these stories. Like poetry, they are meant to be absorbed, experienced, not consumed. They teach you how to read them, so you have to be patient. The volta will come, but arrives like a pointillist painting gradually coming into view, with a central figure that holds the piece together—a Japanese tea ceremony, or a piano, perhaps. Or a bed, of course.
The book itself is also delight, beautifully laid out, well-designed, fun to hold. The font is a pleasure to read. The paper feels good in hand. I'm excited to see these are a series and I will buy more.
Recommended for: fans of Grace Paley, Alice Munro, Deborah Eisenburg.
I'm in bed right now, nabbing that precious moment for myself before the workday takes over. This week, every morning, I read one of these jeweled stories.
When I saw this little book at Three Lives Bookstore, I loved how it fit in my palm. I knew the stories would transfix me, because why else publish a woman whose modest fame is well in the past, and wasn't all that great to begin with? These stories weren't reissued in hope of exclamation points or a Netflix series, but out of a love.
And like whoever campaigned for this book, I loved these stories. Like poetry, they are meant to be absorbed, experienced, not consumed. They teach you how to read them, so you have to be patient. The volta will come, but arrives like a pointillist painting gradually coming into view, with a central figure that holds the piece together—a Japanese tea ceremony, or a piano, perhaps. Or a bed, of course.
The book itself is also delight, beautifully laid out, well-designed, fun to hold. The font is a pleasure to read. The paper feels good in hand. I'm excited to see these are a series and I will buy more.
Recommended for: fans of Grace Paley, Alice Munro, Deborah Eisenburg.
September 7, 2024
I am really torn on how to rate this! Let’s start with the positive first and then reflect on the negative. The positive is that there are some very profound statements sprinkled throughout this collection of short stories. Poetic and beautiful, they leave you with an understanding that this author is obviously no slouch and worthy of her reputation.
The negative is the collection doesn’t really flow. Also, stories sometimes don’t have an ending or overall feeling of purpose. Where “Martian Chronicles” or “A House on Mango Street”, “Men Without Women”, and other collections of short stories make you feel as if you are moving towards some sort of shared direction or motif, this book almost makes you feel like some individual raided the authors desk after death and said, “Hey, we need a little money. Let’s just grab a bunch of her short stories and put them into a binding and sell them!” Where a singular publication in the New Yorker or for a competition would have a realization as to why the story was shaped.
These collected works leave you confused as to why this seven was put into a single publication. Did she only write seven short stories? Was there a distinct reasoning? For this, I give a three star review. Sorry to the other reviewers but this was not at Chekov’s level!
The negative is the collection doesn’t really flow. Also, stories sometimes don’t have an ending or overall feeling of purpose. Where “Martian Chronicles” or “A House on Mango Street”, “Men Without Women”, and other collections of short stories make you feel as if you are moving towards some sort of shared direction or motif, this book almost makes you feel like some individual raided the authors desk after death and said, “Hey, we need a little money. Let’s just grab a bunch of her short stories and put them into a binding and sell them!” Where a singular publication in the New Yorker or for a competition would have a realization as to why the story was shaped.
These collected works leave you confused as to why this seven was put into a single publication. Did she only write seven short stories? Was there a distinct reasoning? For this, I give a three star review. Sorry to the other reviewers but this was not at Chekov’s level!
August 3, 2022
This is another book I won in a Goodreads Giveaway.
This little book—and it is little as in physically small—holds seven short stories that fit the literary fiction genre. It's a well-written book that holds no errors I could detect. The stories are interesting, if somewhat cryptic at times.
The book itself can easily fit into a pocket, and might be just the thing to occupy your time while waiting in a doctor's office or similar circumstance.
This little book—and it is little as in physically small—holds seven short stories that fit the literary fiction genre. It's a well-written book that holds no errors I could detect. The stories are interesting, if somewhat cryptic at times.
The book itself can easily fit into a pocket, and might be just the thing to occupy your time while waiting in a doctor's office or similar circumstance.
May 6, 2023
These stories kept me company as I drove from the midwest home to Oregon, and each one I finished I thought, oh, that one's the clearest, the best, the most precise. Until I hit the story where the lives of the characters and the hard, cold rains of Seattle interact in a Shakespearean meld of setting/character. I wish I'd read Berriault much sooner. Amazing. Highly recommend.
July 31, 2022
I liked it, but I have to admit that some parts were boring. It was well written, a bit melancholy and overall, a quick read.
March 4, 2023
I forgot about Gina Berriault. Solid stories.
March 3, 2025
was intrigued by the size when i picked it up off the library shelf — really surprised by how much i enjoyed it while reading but when i finished it none of the stories really stuck around
Want to read
April 6, 2025(The stories do not appear in chronological order. Stories have been notated to show the collections in which they first appeared.
The Mistress and Other Stories (1965)--MOS
The Infinite Passion of Expectation (1982)--IPE
Women in Their Beds (1996)--WITB)
Read so far:
*Infinite Passion of Expectation (IPE)--
Tea Ceremony (uncollected)--
The Mistress (MOS)--2
The Overcoat (WITB)--
Stolen Pleasures (WITB)--
Works of the Imagination (IPE)--
Women in Their Beds (WITB)--1
***
Around the Dear Ruin (MOS)--
The Birthday Party (MOS)-
The Bystander (MOS)--
The Island of Ven (WITB)--
The Stone Boy (MOS)--4
Sublime Child (MOS)--
Who Is It Can Tell Me Who I Am? (WITB)--
The Mistress and Other Stories (1965)--MOS
The Infinite Passion of Expectation (1982)--IPE
Women in Their Beds (1996)--WITB)
Read so far:
*Infinite Passion of Expectation (IPE)--
Tea Ceremony (uncollected)--
The Mistress (MOS)--2
The Overcoat (WITB)--
Stolen Pleasures (WITB)--
Works of the Imagination (IPE)--
Women in Their Beds (WITB)--1
***
Around the Dear Ruin (MOS)--
The Birthday Party (MOS)-
The Bystander (MOS)--
The Island of Ven (WITB)--
The Stone Boy (MOS)--4
Sublime Child (MOS)--
Who Is It Can Tell Me Who I Am? (WITB)--
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews