SOURCE: A review of Women in their Beds: New and Selected Stories, in Library Journal, March 1, 1996, pp. 107-08.

[In the following review, Heller provides a brief discussion of the collection Women in Their Beds.]

Despite the title, these stories are not about sex. Using primarily third-person narration, Berriault places her introspective characters in interesting situations to explore a range of themes: dealing with loss, gaining self-knowledge, overcoming mental illness, coping with poverty, and living alone. For instance, "The Stone Boy," which became the basis for a screenplay, concerns the emotional estrangement caused by a boy's accidental killing of his brother. Although most of these 35 stories have been previously published in magazines like Esquire, Paris Review, and Ploughshares, they are not all successful; some are merely vignettes, lacking conflict and full character development. Recommended for larger fiction collections.