Flannery O'Connor is one of the most significant storytellers in American literature of the 20th century. To this day, her stories are part of school and university curricula, and the most prestigious short story award in the country bears her name. Her world is the Southern states, the so-called Bible Belt, the heartland of conservative America. The characters are narrow-minded, self-righteous provincials whose God-fearing little existence is disrupted by intruders with evil intentions. Her stories are precise and merciless, yet permeated with all facets of dark humor. With a ruthless eye for grotesque situations and biting irony, this unique writer approached the conflicts of her time, which are still highly relevant today: bigotry, racism, war, flight, poverty, and a diffuse fear of the foreign.