A collection of stories includes previously unpublished fiction, set in Mexico, and autobiographical reflections As she recounts in the moving opening piece of this collection, Doerr published her first novel at the age of 74. Now 85, she looks back on the intervening years of marriage, children, and her years spent living in Mexico as an exercise in memory for her grown children. This and the final reminiscence frame the incandescent stories at the center, many of which are set in Mexico. Fans of Stones for Ibarra (1984) will be happily reunited with Richard and Sara Everton and their colorful neighbors and villagers. The closing piece, "Edie: A Life," tells of the woman who came to work as a housekeeper for the author's family after her mother's death, lived with them until the children were grown, and remained a fixture in their lives until her own death. Written with great tenderness and understanding, these stories and "inventions" are perfectly evocative of a long life well lived. -?Barbara Love, Kingston P.L., Ontario Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Perhaps memory has been the leitmotiv of Doerr's lovely novels, Stones for Ibarra (1984) and Consider This, Senora (1993), because she began writing late in life. Here, in this elegant collection of stories and "inventions," never before published in book form, Doerr opens the window on her own past: childhood in California, marriage before completing college to the man she would live with for more than 40 years, child-rearing experiences, and the bold decision to return to school after the death of her husband. These are revelatory tales full of tenderness, humor, and gratitude, but the jewels of the collection are Doerr's stories about life in Mexico, the place dearest to her heart. She conjures the light, smells, and sounds of Mexico with enrapturing clarity and creates characters both amusing and tragic. Again, we can't help but think that the precision and essentiality of Doerr's style are the felicitous result of her having kept her stories to herself for so long: they've been polished in the bright surf of her mind. Donna Seaman