Reena and Other Stories Author:Paule Marshall This collection of Paule Marshalls short works illustrates the growth of a remarkable writer. Introducing the volume is Marshalls much-acclaimed autobiographical essay, From the Poets in the Kitchen," in which she pays homage to the hard-working, storytelling West Indian women who serve as her muses women who fought back... more » against oppression and invisibility using the only weapon at their command: the spoken word. Such women appear in her luminous short stories, which travel from Brooklyn to Barbados and back again; and the title character of the novella "Merle is one of the most memorable women in contemporary fiction.« less