Balcony Stories

I first read about Grace King and her "Balcony Stories" in Christopher Benfey's "Degas in New Orleans." Benfey quotes King as writing about New Orleans balconies' secret life: "There is much of life passed on the balcony in a country where the summer unrolls in six moon-lengths, and where the nights have to come with a double endowment of vastness and splendor to compensate for the tedious, sun-parched days." This quote caught my attention, as did Benfey's brief description of the stories -- all about women: Cajuns, Creoles, free women of color. And I had to read the stories for myself. I'm glad I did -- the stories are a window into a very specific time and place in an area of the South that seems a world of its own. -- Phyllis Zimbler Miller