The collection "A Manual for Cleaning Women" includes the best stories of the legendary short story writer Lucia Berlin, a master of form who was posthumously recognized as an excellent representative of the bohemian generation of the '60s and '70s. With the vigor of a Raymond Carver, the honesty of an Alice Munro, and a blend of rebellious humor and melancholy entirely her own, Berlin works wonders with the material of insignificant everyday life. Through her stories, featuring heroines who are called to make it on their own in life, emerges a world in constant motion, full of colors, scents, and flavors, a world which, despite the pain it occasionally causes us, will always surprise and captivate us.