
A Manual for Cleaning Women
Lucia Berlin
“I have always had faith that the best writers will rise to the top, like cream, sooner or later, and will become exactly as well-known as they should be—their work talked about, quoted, taught, performed, filmed, set to music, anthologized. Perhaps, with the present collection, Lucia Berlin will begin to gain the attention she deserves.”—Lydia Davis, from the foreword
A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers, and bad Christians.
Listeners will revel in this remarkable collection from a master of the form and wonder how they’d ever overlooked her in the first place.
Duration - 14h 46m.
Author - Lucia Berlin.
Narrator - Thom Rivera.
Published Date - Wednesday, 21 January 2026.
Location:
United States
Description:
“I have always had faith that the best writers will rise to the top, like cream, sooner or later, and will become exactly as well-known as they should be—their work talked about, quoted, taught, performed, filmed, set to music, anthologized. Perhaps, with the present collection, Lucia Berlin will begin to gain the attention she deserves.”—Lydia Davis, from the foreword A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers, and bad Christians. Listeners will revel in this remarkable collection from a master of the form and wonder how they’d ever overlooked her in the first place. Duration - 14h 46m. Author - Lucia Berlin. Narrator - Thom Rivera. Published Date - Wednesday, 21 January 2026.
Language:
English
Introduction
Duration:00:00:22
Foreword: "The Story Is the Thing"
Duration:00:27:49
Angel's Laundromat
Duration:00:11:19
Dr. H.A. Moynahan
Duration:00:16:08
Stars and Saints
Duration:00:18:58
A Manual for Cleaning Women
Duration:00:28:31
My Jockey
Duration:00:02:52
El Tim
Duration:00:21:52
Point of View
Duration:00:09:10
Her First Detox
Duration:00:10:03
Phantom Pain
Duration:00:16:11
Tiger Bites
Duration:00:40:28
Emergency Room Notebook
Duration:00:20:44
Tom Perdue
Duration:00:17:14
Carpe Diem
Duration:00:07:59
Koda Luna
Duration:00:38:35
Good and Bad
Duration:00:24:11
Molina in Albuquerque
Duration:00:14:55
Friends
Duration:00:12:33
Unmanageable
Duration:00:08:45
Electric Car, El Paso
Duration:00:06:21
Sex Appeal
Duration:00:09:25
Teenage Punk in the Sixties
Duration:00:04:30
Step
Duration:00:06:00
Strays Got into Albuquerque from Baton Rouge
Duration:00:18:57
Grief
Duration:00:32:43
Blue Bonnets
Duration:00:21:19
Lovey on Rose
Duration:00:15:39
McAdam
Duration:00:01:01
Dear Conte
Duration:00:18:16
Fool
Duration:00:29:48
Morning
Duration:00:12:52
Panty Down Day
Duration:00:21:13
So Long
Duration:00:17:55
A Love Affair
Duration:00:23:40
Let Me See You Smile
Duration:01:11:41
Mama
Duration:00:14:27
Carmen
Duration:00:21:00
Silence
Duration:00:27:15
mi hito
Duration:00:52:33
502
Duration:00:11:49
Here it is
Duration:00:28:34
BF and Me
Duration:00:07:33
Wait a Minute
Duration:00:17:02
Homing
Duration:00:26:30
Author's Note
Duration:00:06:03
Ending Credits
Duration:00:01:35