Order of Book Series
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Lucia Berlin Books in Order

12 books are credited to Lucia Berlin, published between 1977 and 2022; 4 of them appeared after Lucia Berlin's death in 2004. The first book is A Manual for Cleaning Women (1977) and the newest is Love, Loosha: The Letters of Lucia Berlin and Kenward Elmslie (2022). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
12
Published
1977–2022
Pages on record
1,797 in 9 of 12 books
Reading time
30–45 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 1,797 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 9 of 12 titles with a page count on record.

See all 12 books in order Printable Lucia Berlin checklist

Lucia Berlin (November 12, 1936 to November 12, 2004) was an American short story writer. During Berlin's lifetime a small, devoted readership followed the work, but no mass audience did. Fame arrived in 2015, eleven years after Berlin's death, when a volume of selected stories titled A Manual for Cleaning Women was published. The catalogue lists 12 books, among them Angel's Laundromat, Phantom Pain, Safe & Sound, So Long and Where I Live Now. Later entries include Welcome Home (2018) and Love, Loosha: The Letters of Lucia Berlin and Kenward Elmslie (2022).

How many Lucia Berlin books are there?

Lucia Berlin has 12 books, released between 1977 and 2022. 4 of them were published after Lucia Berlin's death in 2004.

Lucia Berlin Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 12 Lucia Berlin books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin (1977)
  2. Cover of Evening in Paradise by Lucia Berlin (1981)
  3. Cover of Angel's Laundromat by Lucia Berlin (1981)
  4. Cover of Phantom Pain by Lucia Berlin (1984)
  5. Cover of Safe & Sound by Lucia Berlin (1988)
  6. Cover of Homesick by Lucia Berlin (1990)
  7. Cover of So Long by Lucia Berlin (1993)
  8. Cover of Where I Live Now by Lucia Berlin (1999)
  9. Cover of Welcome Home by Lucia Berlin (2018)
  10. Cover of The Wives by Lucia Berlin (2020)
  1. 1
    A Manual for Cleaning Women1977 · 403 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1977403
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Evening in Paradise1981 · 244 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1981244
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Angel's Laundromat1981 · 86 pages · confirmed 2/4
    198186
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Phantom Pain1984 · 120 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1984120
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Safe & Sound1988 · confirmed 2/4
    1988–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Homesick1990 · 280 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1990280
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    So Long1993 · 214 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1993214
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Where I Live Now1999 · 240 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1999240
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Musical Vanity Boxes2016 · confirmed 2/4
    2016–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Welcome Home2018 · 162 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2018162
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Wives2020 · 48 pages · confirmed 2/4
    202048
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Love, Loosha: The Letters of Lucia Berlin and Kenward Elmslie2022 · confirmed 2/4
    2022–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Lucia Berlin books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Standalone books

12 books

12 Lucia Berlin titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Lucia Berlin books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 12 Lucia Berlin books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Lucia Berlin

Start with A Manual for Cleaning Women (1977), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Lucia Berlin book?

Love, Loosha: The Letters of Lucia Berlin and Kenward Elmslie (2022) is the newest Lucia Berlin book released so far.

Is there a new Lucia Berlin book coming?

No next Lucia Berlin book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Awards Lucia Berlin has won

Wikidata records 1 award for Lucia Berlin. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • American Book Awards1991Won

Lucia Berlin at a glance

Died
Lucia Berlin died in 2004, according to Wikidata.
After death
Books credited to Lucia Berlin are still being published after Lucia Berlin's death in 2004; the newest appeared in 2022.
Release pace
Lucia Berlin books have appeared about one every 4 years on average.
Length
1,797 pages across the 9 of 12 books with a recorded length, a median of 214 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Lucia Berlin books, 4 of 12, were published in the 1980s.

What the Lucia Berlin books are about

8 of the 12 Lucia Berlin books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: short stories is tagged on 4 of 8. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.