The O. Henry Prize Stories 1991 collects 20 of the best short stories of the year, selected from thousands published in literary magazines. “The Sandstone Farmhouse” by John Updike, which tells of a difficult relationship of a son and his mother over 50 years, takes the coveted top prize. The other stories in this collection are:

Joyce Carol Oates “The Swimmers”
Sharon Sheehe Stark “Overland”
Martha Lacy Hall “The Apple-Green Triumph”
Wayne Johnson “Hippies, Indians, Buffalo”
Perri Klass “For Women Everywhere”
Helen Norris “Raisin Faces”
Patricia Lear “Powwow”
Charles Baxter “Saul and Patsy Are Pregnant”
Sylvia A. Watanabe “Talking to the Dead”
T. Alan Broughton “Ashes”
Diane Levenberg “The Ilui”
Ursula K. Le Guin “Hand, Cup, Shell”
Alice Adams “Earthquake Damage”
Charlotte Zoë Walker “The Very Pineapple”
Ronald Sukenick “Ecco”
Dennis McFarland “Nothing to Ask For”
Millicent Dillon “Oil and Water”
Marly Swick “Moscow Nights”
Thomas Fox Averill “During the Twelfth Summer of Elmer D. Peterson”

“This collection is both meritorious and diverse. The work ranges from plainly written stories brimming with resonant significance to full-blown extravaganzas. . . . Recommended.”—Library Journal