Description

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The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Interpreter of Maladies returns with her first short story collection since the publication of her number one New York Times best seller Unaccustomed Earth—a major literary event and a tour de force

Nine mesmerizing stories saturated in the details of Roman life that showcase Jhumpa Lahiri’s extraordinary range and virtuosity.

An immigrant family confronts the devastating aftershocks of racial violence. A young couple discovers the joy of domestic comfort and then spirals into unrelenting misfortune. A group of strangers orbit each other unknowingly as they ascend and descend the ancient steps that anchor their neighborhood. An annual garden party sews the seed of a haunting marital betrayal. In story after story, Lahiri delivers her richest and most stirring work yet in a collection whose themes reverberate with the tensions of modern urban life: dislocation and deracination, visibility and invisibility, the difficulty of straddling worlds and cultures, the meaning of home. Roman Stories is a magnificent testament to Lahiri’s dazzling style and unalloyed mastery of the short form.

About the Author

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JHUMPA LAHIRI is the author of five works of fiction: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, The Lowland and Whereabouts; and a work of nonfiction, In Other Words. She has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize; the PEN/Hemingway Award; the PEN/Malamud Award; the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award; the Premio Gregor von Rezzori; the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature; a 2014 National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama; and the Premio Internazionale Viareggio-Versilia, for In altre parole.

Praise For…

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“Each narrative contains deftly drawn vignettes of the entwined lives of Italians and foreigners of different classes, colors, ages and creeds.” —Wall Street Journal

“Electric . . .  Elegant . . . The fluid transitions between Lahiri’s and Portnowitz’s translations elevate Roman Stories from a grouping of individual tales to a deeply moving whole.” —The New York Times

"A delectable, sun-washed treat . . . the stories have the beating heart of the city itself, a place of magnificent decay and vibrant, varied life." —Vogue

“Heartrending. . . affecting . . . [Lahiri] powerfully conveys her characters' valiant efforts to navigate geographic and cultural relocations and find their place in the world.” —NPR

"Dazzling." —People

"Masterful . . . Lahiri brilliantly delineates her characters' triumphs and trials." —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A dazzling collection of nine stories originally written in Italian and featuring characters who grapple with vast emotional and social chasms that cleave the lives of families, longtime friends, and immigrants . . . Throughout, Lahiri’s luminous prose captures a side of Rome often ignored . . . These unembroidered yet potent stories shine.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A brilliant return to the short story form by an author of protean accomplishments . . . Filled with intelligence and sorrow, these sharply drawn glimpses of Roman lives create an impressively unified effect.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Stunning . . . A finely calibrated collection about insiders and outsiders, natives and foreigners . . . Rome with its echoing past and mercurial present is a potently evocative setting for Lahiri’s exquisitely incisive, richly empathetic, and profoundly resonant stories.” —Booklist (starred review)