"A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With her trademark blend of humor and melancholy, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday uncovering moments of grace in the cafeterias and Laundromats of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Northern California upper classes, and from the perspective of a cleaning woman alone in a hotel dining room in Mexico City. The women of Berlin's stories are lost, but they are also strong, clever, and extraordinarily real. They are hitchhikers, hard workers, bad Christians. With the wit of Lorrie Moore and the grit of Raymond Carver, they navigate a world of jockeys, doctors, and switchboard operators. They laugh, they mourn, they drink. Berlin, a highly influential writer despite having published little in her lifetime, conjures these women from California, Mexico, and beyond. Lovers of the short story will not want to miss this remarkable collection from a master of the form" -- Provided by publisher.

Foreword: "The story is the thing" /Lydia Davis -- Introduction / Stephen Emerson -- Angel's laundromat -- Dr. H. A. Moynihan -- Stars and saints -- A manual for cleaning women -- My jockey -- El Tim -- Point of view -- Her first detox -- Phantom pain -- Tiger bites -- Emergency room notebook -- Temps perdu -- Carpe diem -- Toda luna, Todo Ano -- Good and bad -- Melina -- Friends -- Unmanageable -- Electric car, El Paso -- Sex appeal -- Teenage punk -- Step -- Strays -- Grief -- Bluebonnets -- La vie en rose -- Macadam -- Dear Conchi -- Fool to cry -- Mourning -- Panteón de Dolores -- So long -- A love affair -- Let me see you smile -- Mama -- Carmen -- Silence -- Mijito -- 502 -- Here it is Saturday -- B.F. and me -- Wait a minute -- Homing.