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Roman Stories

Author Jhumpa Lahiri

Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri, Todd Portnowitz

Paperback

$18.00 US

Knopf

5.51"W x 8.17"H x 0.59"D (14.0 x 20.8 x 1.5 cm) | 7 oz (204 g) | 24 per carton

On sale Oct 10, 2023 | 224 Pages | 978-1-5247-1260-0

Sales rights: US, Opn Mkt (no CAN)

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

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.

“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)

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 author of The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, and The Lowland. Since 2015, Lahiri has been writing fiction, essays, and poetry in Italian: In Altre Parole (In Other Words), Il Vestito dei libri (The Clothing of Books), Dove mi trovo (self-translated as Whereabouts), Il quaderno di Nerina, and Racconti romani. She received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in 2014, and in 2019 was named Commendatore of the Italian Republic by President Sergio Mattarella. Her most recent book in English, Translating Myself and Others, was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.

jhumpalahiri.net View titles by Jhumpa Lahiri

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• Minor Outl.Ins.

• North Mariana

• Philippines

• Puerto Rico

• Samoa,American

• US Virgin Is.

Available for sale non-exclusive:

• Afghanistan

• Aland Islands

• Albania

• Algeria

• Andorra

• Angola

• Antarctica

• Argentina

• Armenia

• Aruba

• Austria

• Azerbaijan

• Bahrain

• Belarus

• Belgium

• Benin

• Bolivia

• Bonaire, Saba

• Bosnia Herzeg.

• Bouvet Island

• Brazil

• Bulgaria

• Burkina Faso

• Burundi

• Cambodia

• Cape Verde

• Centr.Afr.Rep.

• Chad

• Chile

• China

• Colombia

• Comoro Is.

• Congo

• Cook Islands

• Costa Rica

• Croatia

• Cuba

• Curacao

• Czech Republic

• Dem. Rep. Congo

• Denmark

• Djibouti

• Dominican Rep.

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• Egypt

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• Lithuania

• Luxembourg

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• Malaysia

• Maldives

• Mali

• Marshall island

• Martinique

• Mauritania

• Mayotte

• Mexico

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• Moldavia

• Monaco

• Mongolia

• Montenegro

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• Nepal

• Netherlands

• New Caledonia

• Nicaragua

• Niger

• Niue

• Norfolk Island

• North Korea

• Norway

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• Palestinian Ter

• Panama

• Paraguay

• Peru

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• Portugal

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• Reunion Island

• Romania

• Russian Fed.

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• Saudi Arabia

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• Serbia

• Singapore

• Sint Maarten

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• South Korea

• South Sudan

• Spain

• St Barthelemy

• St.Pier,Miquel.

• Sth Terr. Franc

• Sudan

• Suriname

• Svalbard

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Syria

• Tadschikistan

• Taiwan

• Thailand

• Timor-Leste

• Togo

• Tokelau Islands

• Tunisia

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Ukraine

• Unit.Arab Emir.

• Uruguay

• Uzbekistan

• Vatican City

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

• Wallis,Futuna

• West Saharan

• Western Samoa

• Yemen

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• Australia

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• Canada

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• Fiji

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Additional formats

Roman Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-46990-3

$17.00 US

Paperback

Jun 18, 2024
Roman Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-79301-5

$29.00 US

Large Print

Nov 21, 2023
Roman Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-53632-2

$27.00 US

Hardcover

Oct 10, 2023

Roman Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-46990-3

$17.00 US

Paperback

Jun 18, 2024
Roman Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-79301-5

$29.00 US

Large Print

Nov 21, 2023
Roman Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-53632-2

$27.00 US

Hardcover

Oct 10, 2023

Other Books by this Author

Whereabouts

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-31208-7

$16.00 US

Paperback

Mar 29, 2022
In Other Words

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-1-101-91146-4

$17.00 US

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Feb 07, 2017
The Clothing of Books

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$8.95 US

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Nov 15, 2016
The Lowland

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978-0-307-27826-5

$18.00 US

Paperback

Jun 17, 2014
Unaccustomed Earth

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978-0-307-27825-8

$18.00 US

Paperback

Apr 07, 2009

Whereabouts

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-593-31208-7

$16.00 US

Paperback

Mar 29, 2022
In Other Words

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-1-101-91146-4

$17.00 US

Paperback

Feb 07, 2017
The Clothing of Books

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-525-43275-3

$8.95 US

Paperback

Nov 15, 2016
The Lowland

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-307-27826-5

$18.00 US

Paperback

Jun 17, 2014
Unaccustomed Earth

Jhumpa Lahiri

978-0-307-27825-8

$18.00 US

Paperback

Apr 07, 2009

the new yorker announces their best books of 2023

Adult General

December 15 2023

The New Yorker Announces Their Best Books of 2023

Throughout the year, editors and staffers of the famed American magazine The New Yorker discuss the best books published weekly. Now that the end of the year is wrapping up, the staff has compiled their list of best books from the year into a dozen essentials across fiction and nonfiction. See below for that list!

The New Yorker Announces Their Best Books of 2023

Adult General

December 15 2023

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Roman Stories

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