The Reason for Ann & Other Stories

The Reason for Ann & Other Stories, first published in 1952, collects the best of Myles Connolly’s “novelettes.” Connolly’s writing was marked by a twofold talent: to make people laugh and to show them the truth. These six stories, especially “The Reason for Ann” and “The Big Red House on Hope Street,” demonstrate the full scope of his cinematic imagination and the solidity of his grasp on the fundamental truths of God, family, and friendship.In keeping with his excellent editorial work on Connolly’s Mr. Blue, Dan England, and Bump on Brannigan’s Head, Stephen Mirarchi provides reasons aplenty that The Reason for Ann & Other Stories is the product of a humble but supremely talented author at the height of his powers. Indeed, as Mirarchi writes in his Introduction, these stories “all have a higher purpose built in to their very telling and thus bear the joy of retelling.”