Edith Pearlman’s astonishing stories have won numerous awards in America and prompted accolades here, comparing her to Chekhov, Munro and Updike. Such comparisons are not helpful, for her voice is unique; however, her literary status is indeed of the highest order, as this, her fifth collection, most joyfully demonstrates.

The stories in Honeydew are almost all set in Godolphin, a fictional university town on the edge of Boston. They unfold in rich variety, in a pedicure salon, a hospital, a women’s soup kitchen, porches, homes, an antiques shop, a girls’ school and, just once, a cruise ship. Places are