"The Best Years" is a short story by Willa Cather, first published after her death in the collection The Old Beauty and Others in 1948.
[5] Set in Nebraska and the northeastern United States,[6][7] the story takes place over twenty years, tracing the response of Lesley Ferguesson's family to her death in a snowstorm.
[16][17][18] It has been described as her "final achievement" in pursuing the mystery genre,[19] and as "a rich portrait" by scholar Ann Romines.
[20] It has been said to be "richer in domestic feeling than anything else she ever wrote",[21] but it has also been completely ignored by some scholars,[8] or seen as "a slackening into self-indulgence",[22] "minor",[23] "bad" or centered on "sentimental" "self-pity".
[33][34] While much of Cather's writing has been described as male-centered, "The Best Years" continues her end-of-life tradition of exploring mother-daughter relationships through the lens of women, rather than men, with careful use of a female protagonist.