Beverly Jensen was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 whose stories have appeared posthumously in the country's leading literary journals, in The Best American Short Stories, in the anthology "Sisters" (Paris Press), and in the novel-in-stories, The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay," published by Viking Press in 2010..

Jensen wrote her stories based on the lives of her mother, Idella, and aunt, Avis, between 1986 and 2003. After her death from pancreatic cancer, her husband Jay Silverman and teacher Jennifer Levin (author of Water Dancer) worked to publish the stories, with help from Katrina Kenison ("The Gift of an Ordinary Day") and Howard Frank Mosher ("Walking to Gatlinburg"). "Wake" appeared in New England Review

New England Review

The New England Review is a quarterly literary magazine published by Middlebury College. Founded in New Hampshire in 1978 by poet, novelist, editor and professor Sydney Lea and poet Jay Parini, it was published as New England Review & Bread Loaf Quarterly from 1982 , until 1991 as a formal...

 and was subsequently chosen by Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

 for The Best American Short Stories 2007

The Best American Short Stories 2007

The Best American Short Stories 2007, a volume in The Best American Short Stories series, was edited by Heidi Pitlor and by guest editor Stephen King.-Short Stories included:-Other notable stories:...

. The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay has been praised by Elizabeth Strout, Stephen King, Richard Russo (NY Times, Aug. 1, 2010), and O. Magazine (Aug. 2010).

Further information and brief recordings by Beverly Jensen can be found at http://www.beverlyjensen.net.