In these fifteen remarkable stories, M.F.K. Fisher, one of the most
admired writers of our time, embraces the coming of old age. With a
saint to guide us, she writes, perhaps we can accept in a loving way
"the inevitable visits of a possibly nagging harpy like Sister Age" But
in the stories, it is the human strength in the unavoidable encounter
with the end of life that Fisher dramatizes so powerfully. Other
themes--the importance of witnessing death, the marvelous resilience of
the old, the passing of vanity--are all explored with insight, sympathy
and, often, a sly wit.