‘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

Written in her adopted second language and seamlessly translated into English, Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri transports readers to the real Rome in Roman Stories. This new collection places the city in its multi-faceted and metaphysical glory firmly in the spotlight.

In nine new stories, Lahiri captures the contradictions and conversations embedded in the streets of the historic city. Both metropolis and monument, suspended between past and future, Rome is more than just a stage where the lives and dramas of its inhabitants play out – it is a living, breathing entity, caught between magnificence and decay.

Filled with the tensions of a changing city – visibility and invisibility, random acts of aggression, the challenge of straddling worlds and cultures – the protagonists in Lahiri’s new tales search for the meaning of home, of life, and of love while the echoes of the city’s rich history reverberate around them.

Jhumpa Lahiri, a bilingual writer and translator, is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies, her debut story collection. Her other works in English include The Namesake, and The Lowland, which was a finalist for both the Booker Prize and the National Book Award in fiction. Her works in Italian include In Altre Parole, and Dove mi trovo, self-translated as Whereabouts.