Willa Cather is unarguably one of America's great writers, whose virtual rediscovery in the last 15 years or so owes a good deal to Virago Classics. She is best known for her depictions of life in the American Middle West, but Cather was various and versatile and I could handle big city life convincingly too, even the haut monde. The title story of this slim collection is a remarkable study of a boy who is virtually, a psychopath, a liar and a misfit; the theme and treatment are strangely modern, and the collection as a whole proves that Cather was a born short story writer as well as a natural novelist. Another Dover Thrift reissue is The Land of Little Rain, by the American feminist writer Mary Austin (1868-1934), an evocation of the south west with its Indians, cacti, lizards and coyotes, flowers and deserts and high sierras. Though less than 80 pages long, this little book is regional scene painting of high quality.