Probably the most gratifying literary rediscovery of the 1960's was the revival of Jean Rhys…. And, thanks to that, we now have those fine, somber Rhys novels of the 1930's—largely about the lives of lonely women submerged in the depths of great cities….

Sean O'Faolain once remarked … that the art of the modern short story lies half in not-telling. It is the good reader's art to supply the silent half, quickly and accurately, for himself. And this is the best clue to understanding the 16 new stories in "Sleep It Off, Lady." (p. 7)

[No] thumbnails of plot can transmit the particular tang of Jean Rhys's style or her splendid ability to choose what is said and to let the unsaid speak. The fact that the scenes themselves come from the West Indies or London Or Paris of decades past has no real bearing—these are very modern stories...