Ruth Suckow's most anthologized short story, "A Start in Life" chronicles young Daisy's departure from her family to begin life as a "hired girl." Moving and even heart-breaking, it is widely used to spur conversations on first jobs or leaving home.
In one of her most moving—and heart-breaking—short stories, Suckow recreates the family “conference” that leaves the aging parents—the “old folks”—dispossessed of their home
The taking of a family photograph provides Suckow with the occasion for a brilliant portrait of four generations of an Iowa family: the still “foreign-like” German immigrant farmer grandfather who wishes he could speak more with his eldest son who…
