The Reason for Ann & Other Stories

By Myles Connolly | Introduction and Notes by Stephen Mirarchi, PhD 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. “Perhaps heaven is not the end of all dreams.” 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.” Myles Connolly (1897–1964) was a Hollywood writer and producer with more than forty film credits to his name and several others uncredited. He published a collection of short stories and four novels. Stephen Mirarchi is Assistant Professor of English at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He has published numerous articles in academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers Paperback: 292pp. ISBN: 978-1949899986