Edna Ferber , best known today for her novels, was a short-story writer well before she was an acclaimed novelist. It was not until the appearance of So Big in 1924, after the publication of four novels, one play, and seven collections of stories, that her reputation as a novelist became firmly established. The novel earned its creator a Pulitzer Prize as well as a new audience eager for her longer fiction. Ferber, however, continued to produce short-story collections until 1947. Along with thirteen novels, nine plays, and two autobiographies, she produced twelve collections of stories. Like her work in other genres, these collections are of varying literary merit, but at least three--the memorable Emma McChesney books -- have achieved lasting recognition.

McChesney, along with many of the other sharply drawn denizens of Ferber's short stories, is a survivor in a tough world. And so was Ferber. She was born in...