“We last heard from Elizabeth Spencer (92) more than a decade ago. In 1998 she published a memoir, Landscapes of the Heart, followed in 2001 by a ‘greatest hits’ roundup of her novellas and short stories, The Southern Woman, which was followed by a quiet 12 years. One could be forgiven the thought that after a long and illustrious career Spencer, as Alice Munro has hinted and Philip Roth has declared, had decided to put her feet up and recline a little on her laurels.
“But Spencer is back with a new collection, Starting Over. The title takes its cue from the book’s many characters trying to find new homes, recover from life’s fumbles. Some might muse that Spencer herself is starting over, once more back to the typewriter, but there is nothing of rebirth here. She is, as she ever was, one of America’s best short story writers, with her invention and craft undimmed.”
Continue reading here. Visit Elizabeth Spencer’s website here. In addition to her writing, you may be familiar with a 1962 film adapted by Julius J. Epstein from one of her short stories: The Light in the Piazza, starring Olivia de Havilland and Rossano Brazzi.
