Helen Weinzweig's literary reputation has largely been based upon her two highly acclaimed novels, Basic Black with Pearls, which won the City of Toronto Book Award in 1981, and Passing Ceremony, published by House of Anansi in 1973. One of Canada's most original writers of fiction, Weinzweig's art is scrupulous and painstaking, her imagination inventive and disturbing. In A View from the Roof, her first book of short fiction, Helen Weinzweig brings together a complete collection of her stories originally published in such magazines as The Canadian Forum, Saturday Night, and The Tamarack Review, or broadcast on CBC Radio.