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Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Roman Stories

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Read by Deepti Gupta, Carlotta Brentan, Cassandra Campbell, Ari Fliakos and Michael Obiora
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

By Jhumpa Lahiri
Read by Deepti Gupta, Carlotta Brentan, Cassandra Campbell, Ari Fliakos and Michael Obiora
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

Best Seller
Paperback $17.00

Jun 18, 2024 | ISBN 9780593469903

Large Print $29.00

Nov 21, 2023 | ISBN 9780593793015

Hardcover $27.00

Oct 10, 2023 | ISBN 9780593536322

Ebook $13.99

Oct 10, 2023 | ISBN 9780593536339

Audiobook Download $20.00

Oct 10, 2023 | 365 Minutes

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    Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
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    Oct 10, 2023 | ISBN 9780593788349 | 365 Minutes

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    • $17.00

      Jun 18, 2024 | ISBN 9780593469903

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    • $29.00

      Nov 21, 2023 | ISBN 9780593793015

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    • $27.00

      Oct 10, 2023 | ISBN 9780593536322

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Oct 10, 2023 | ISBN 9780593536339

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Oct 10, 2023 | ISBN 9780593788349

      365 Minutes

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    About Roman Stories

    The first short story collection by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and master of the form since her number one New York Times best seller Unaccustomed Earth • Rome—metropolis and monument, suspended between past and future, multi-faceted and metaphysical—is the protagonist, not the setting, of these nine stories

    In “The Boundary,” one family vacations in the Roman countryside, though we see their lives through the eyes of the caretaker’s daughter, who nurses a wound from her family’s immigrant past. In “P’s Parties,” a Roman couple, now empty nesters, finds comfort and community with foreigners at their friend’s yearly birthday gathering—until the husband crosses a line.

    And in “The Steps,” on a public staircase that connects two neighborhoods and the residents who climb up and down it, we see Italy’s capital in all of its social and cultural variegations, filled with the tensions of a changing city: visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures, and the meaning of home.

    These are splendid, searching stories, written in Jhumpa Lahiri’s adopted language of Italian and seamlessly translated by the author and by Knopf editor Todd Portnowitz. Stories steeped in the moods of Italian master Alberto Moravia and guided, in the concluding tale, by the ineluctable ghost of Dante Alighieri, whose words lead the protagonist toward a new way of life.

    About Roman Stories

    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 Roman Stories

    A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, NPR • The first short story collection by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and master of the form since her number one New York Times best seller Unaccustomed Earth • Rome—metropolis and monument, suspended between past and future, multi-faceted and metaphysical—is the protagonist, not the setting, of these nine stories

    “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

    In “The Boundary,” one family vacations in the Roman countryside, though we see their lives through the eyes of the caretaker’s daughter, who nurses a wound from her family’s immigrant past. In “P’s Parties,” a Roman couple, now empty nesters, finds comfort and community with foreigners at their friend’s yearly birthday gathering—until the husband crosses a line.

    And in “The Steps,” on a public staircase that connects two neighborhoods and the residents who climb up and down it, we see Italy’s capital in all of its social and cultural variegations, filled with the tensions of a changing city: visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures, and the meaning of home.

    These are splendid, searching stories, written in Jhumpa Lahiri’s adopted language of Italian and seamlessly translated by the author and by Knopf editor Todd Portnowitz. Stories steeped in the moods of Italian master Alberto Moravia and guided, in the concluding tale, by the ineluctable ghost of Dante Alighieri, whose words lead the protagonist toward a new way of life.

    About Roman Stories

    A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, NPR • The first short story collection by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and master of the form since her number one New York Times best seller Unaccustomed Earth • Rome—metropolis and monument, suspended between past and future, multi-faceted and metaphysical—is the protagonist, not the setting, of these nine stories

    “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

    In “The Boundary,” one family vacations in the Roman countryside, though we see their lives through the eyes of the caretaker’s daughter, who nurses a wound from her family’s immigrant past. In “P’s Parties,” a Roman couple, now empty nesters, finds comfort and community with foreigners at their friend’s yearly birthday gathering—until the husband crosses a line.

    And in “The Steps,” on a public staircase that connects two neighborhoods and the residents who climb up and down it, we see Italy’s capital in all of its social and cultural variegations, filled with the tensions of a changing city: visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures, and the meaning of home.

    These are splendid, searching stories, written in Jhumpa Lahiri’s adopted language of Italian and seamlessly translated by the author and by Knopf editor Todd Portnowitz. Stories steeped in the moods of Italian master Alberto Moravia and guided, in the concluding tale, by the ineluctable ghost of Dante Alighieri, whose words lead the protagonist toward a new way of life.

    About Roman Stories

    A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, NPR • The first short story collection by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and master of the form since her number one New York Times best seller Unaccustomed Earth • Rome—metropolis and monument, suspended between past and future, multi-faceted and metaphysical—is the protagonist, not the setting, of these nine stories

    “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

    In “The Boundary,” one family vacations in the Roman countryside, though we see their lives through the eyes of the caretaker’s daughter, who nurses a wound from her family’s immigrant past. In “P’s Parties,” a Roman couple, now empty nesters, finds comfort and community with foreigners at their friend’s yearly birthday gathering—until the husband crosses a line.

    And in “The Steps,” on a public staircase that connects two neighborhoods and the residents who climb up and down it, we see Italy’s capital in all of its social and cultural variegations, filled with the tensions of a changing city: visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures, and the meaning of home.

    These are splendid, searching stories, written in Jhumpa Lahiri’s adopted language of Italian and seamlessly translated by the author and by Knopf editor Todd Portnowitz. Stories steeped in the moods of Italian master Alberto Moravia and guided, in the concluding tale, by the ineluctable ghost of Dante Alighieri, whose words lead the protagonist toward a new way of life.

    Listen to a sample from Roman Stories

    Also by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Whereabouts
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    The Clothing of Books
    Hell-Heaven
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    See all books by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Also by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Whereabouts
    In Other Words
    The Clothing of Books
    Hell-Heaven
    The Lowland
    See all books by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Also by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Whereabouts
    In Other Words
    The Clothing of Books
    Hell-Heaven
    The Lowland
    See all books by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Also by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Whereabouts
    In Other Words
    The Clothing of Books
    Hell-Heaven
    The Lowland
    See all books by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Also by Jhumpa Lahiri

    Whereabouts
    In Other Words
    The Clothing of Books
    Hell-Heaven
    The Lowland
    See all books by Jhumpa Lahiri

    About Jhumpa Lahiri

    JHUMPA LAHIRI, a bilingual writer and translator, is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, Columbia University. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies and is also the… More about Jhumpa Lahiri

    About Jhumpa Lahiri

    JHUMPA LAHIRI, a bilingual writer and translator, is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, Columbia University. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies and is also the… More about Jhumpa Lahiri

    About Jhumpa Lahiri

    JHUMPA LAHIRI, a bilingual writer and translator, is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, Columbia University. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies and is also the… More about Jhumpa Lahiri

    About Jhumpa Lahiri

    JHUMPA LAHIRI, a bilingual writer and translator, is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, Columbia University. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies and is also the… More about Jhumpa Lahiri

    About Jhumpa Lahiri

    JHUMPA LAHIRI, a bilingual writer and translator, is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, Columbia University. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies and is also the… More about Jhumpa Lahiri

    Product Details

    Category: Short Stories | Women’s Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $17.00
    Published by Vintage
    Jun 18, 2024 | 224 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780593469903

    Category: Short Stories | Women’s Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Large Print | $29.00
    Published by Random House Large Print
    Nov 21, 2023 | 256 Pages | 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 | ISBN 9780593793015

    Category: Short Stories | Women’s Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Hardcover | $27.00
    Published by Knopf
    Oct 10, 2023 | 224 Pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 | ISBN 9780593536322

    Category: Short Stories | Women’s Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $13.99
    Published by Vintage
    Oct 10, 2023 | 224 Pages | ISBN 9780593536339

    Category: Short Stories | Women’s Fiction | Literary Fiction | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $20.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Oct 10, 2023 | 365 Minutes | ISBN 9780593788349

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    Praise

    “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)

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