Happy Trails to You: Stories
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{{Infobox book
| italic title = Happy Trails to You: Stories
| name =
| image = File:HappyTrailsToYou.jpg
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| caption = First edition
| author = Julie Hecht
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| country = United States
| language = English
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| genre = Fiction, short story
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| published = May 6, 2008
| publisher = Simon & Schuster
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| media_type = Print, e-book
| pages = 224 pages
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| isbn = 141656425X
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| preceded_by = The Unprofessionals
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Happy Trails to You: Stories is a 2008 collection of short stories by American author Julie Hecht. It was first published on May 6, 2008, through Simon & Schuster and was reprinted in paperback by the publisher the following year. Like her prior two fictional works, the collection's stories follow Isabelle, a middle aged photographer.
Synopsis
The collection comprises seven short stories, listed as follows:
:#"Over There"
:#"Being and Nothingness"
:#"A Little Present on This Dark November Day"
:#"Thank You for the Mittens"
:#"Get Money"
:#"Cramp Bark"
:#"Happy Trails to You"
Reception
Critical reception for Happy Trails to You: Stories has been positive.{{cite web|title=Happy Trails to You. (review)|url=http://www.booklistonline.com/Happy-Trails-to-You-Julie-Hecht/pid=2619704|publisher=Booklist|accessdate=8 May 2015}}{{cite web|title=Happy Trails to You (review)|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4165-6425-6|publisher=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=8 May 2015}} The Plain Dealer and Boston.com both gave favorable reviews of the work,{{cite web|last1=Long|first1=Karen R.|title='The Ayatollah Begs to Differ' from Hooman Majd sheds light on modern Iran: New in Paperback|date=30 August 2009 |url=http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2009/08/the_ayatollah_begs_to_differ_f.html|publisher=Plain Dealer|accessdate=8 May 2015}} and Boston.com wrote that "Like the photographs the narrator captures in this new collection, she too comes into greater focus, as Hecht reveals, with a careful, confident hand, a woman who is many things: fraught and frustrating, hilarious and hopeless, but ultimately, just an individual trying to survive in the world."{{cite web|last1=Bellows|first1=Nathaniel|title=A fictional photographer, back in focus|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2008/06/22/a_fictional_photographer_back_in_focus/|publisher=Boston.com|accessdate=8 May 2015}} Entertainment Weekly was somewhat mixed in their review, stating "Julie Hecht can be droll, but her narrator’s relentless neuroses ultimately grate."{{cite web|title=Happy Trails to You (review)|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2008/05/09/happy-trails-you|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|accessdate=8 May 2015}}