SOURCE: "Love for the Proper Outlaw," in The New York Times Book Review, September 16, 1990, p. 13.

In the following favorable review of The Woman Lit by Fireflies, Houston explores stylistic and thematic aspects of the three novellas.

A dozen years ago, Jim Harrison published a collection called Legends of the Fall, which may well be the best set of novellas to appear in this country during the last quarter-century. But if [The Woman Lit By Fireflies,] which also consists of three novellas, doesn't move at the breakneck speed of its predecessor, there's no cause for Harrison fans to become alarmed. No writer who tries to extend his range, as good writers must, can allow himself to repeat effects only because they worked well the first time around. The Woman Lit by Fireflies demonstrates, in fact, a powerful talent in search of its limits.

All three novellas explore, to varying...