Novels

• The Perfectionists (1970)
• Glass People (1972)
• The Odd Woman (1974)
• Dream Children (1976)
• Violet Clay (1978)
• A Mother and Two Daughters (1982) ISBN 978-0-345-38923-7
• Mr. Bedford and the Muses (1983)
• The Finishing School (1984) ISBN 978-0-345-47226-7
• A Southern Family (1987)
• Father Melancholy's Daughter (1991) ISBN 978-0-380-72986-9
• The Good Husband (1994)
• Evensong (1999) ISBN 978-0-345-43477-7
• Heart: A Personal Journal through its Myths and Meanings (2001)
• Evenings at Five (2003) ISBN 978-0-345-46103-2
• Queen of the Underworld (2006) ISBN 978-0-7393-2599-5
• The Making of a Writer (2006)
• Unfinished Desires (2009) ISBN 978-0-345-48321-8
• Flora (2013) ISBN 978-1-4088-4088-7
• Publishing: A Writer's Memoir (2015) ISBN 978-1-62040-826-1

Other works

• The Southern Belle (1975)
• Being on Everybody's Side (1979)
• Becoming a Writer (1980)
• Becoming the Characters in Your Own Novel (1982)
• Introduction to The Best American Short Stories (1985)