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The Life You Save May Be Your Own

Flannery O'Connor

First published 1955
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

Lucynell is deaf & very sheltered, living with her mother on a farm. A vagrant named Shiftlet comes to work for a few days. The mother, desperate to find Lucynell a husband, maneuvers and bribes the two of them into marrying. Shiftlet drives away with Lucynell but soon abandons her in a diner.

First published in the Spring 1953 issue of The Kenyon Review.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1955 Cover A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Harcourt, Brace & Company Collection 53
October 1992 Cover A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Harcourt Brace Collection 47
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