Born in 1873, Willa Cather grew up in a Nebraska that was vastly different from the prosperous state we know today. Then the country was unbroken, the land in the process of being settled by immigrants, and a rough and ready ethos prevailed.
Cather's important novels were to come later, but her graceful style and intelligent sensibilities were well-formed by the time she wrote her first book of short pieces.
Stories include: "Flavia and her Artists," "The Sculptor's Funeral," "The Garden Lodge," "A Death in the Desert," "The Marriage of Phaedra," "A Wagner Matinee" and "Paul's Case."