Kate Walbert Books in Order

Linked stories follow Marion Clark as she repeatedly relocates with her husband, then her daughter Rebecca as she travels in search of possibilities her mother missed. Their exchanges reveal how wandering, constrained choices, and restless freedom shape two generations.

Ellen looks back on her youth during World War II and the cousin she lost at Iwo Jima. His diary and treasured book about Japanese gardens influence her memories as she explores love, loss, and women's prescribed roles.

Ten former country-club housewives reflect on marriages and motherhood begun in the 1950s. Now divorced or alone with grown daughters, they test newfound independence through shared interventions, protests, and encounters with the disappointments of their earlier lives.

Guest editor Stephen King and series editor Heidi Pitlor select twenty short stories first published in U.S. and Canadian magazines. The annual anthology includes Richard Russo’s “Horseman” alongside work by Alice Munro, Lauren Groff, Karen Russell, and others.

A suffragette's fatal hunger strike echoes through successive generations of her family. Interwoven stories follow women confronting scientific ambition, domestic expectations, political protest, and the challenge of defining themselves within a century of changing social roles.

Two elderly friends who survived war in Europe take painting classes in Manhattan, where their lives intersect with an art historian and an unsettled tenant. Memories, private longings, and an approaching storm reshape their connections.

After a drunken accident kills her friend, Jo transfers to a prestigious boarding school seeking a fresh start. A predatory teacher's attention and the institution's failure to protect her expose new dangers beneath its respectable reputation.

Twelve new and selected stories follow women questioning the roles assigned to them as mothers, wives, and daughters. Moments of panic, family tension, and unexpected encounters expose their longing for connection and the pressures beneath seemingly ordinary lives.