The Faraway World: Stories

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*A New York Times Editors Choice*

From the author of Infinite Countrya New York Times bestseller and a Reeses Book Club pickcomes a rich and compelling (The Washington Post) collection of ten exquisite, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice, and moral compromise.

Two Colombian expats meet as strangers on the rainy streets of New York City, both burdened with traumatic pasts. In Cuba, a woman discovers her deceased brothers bones have been stolen, and the love of her life returns from Ecuador for a one-night visit. A cash-strapped couple hustles in Miami, to life-altering ends.

If youre looking for a collection that will touch your heart and make you look at your fellow humans more generously, this ones a cant-miss (Good Housekeeping). Author Patricia Engel is a wonder (Lauren Groff) and these intimate and panoramic stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love.

Reviews

Sparkling . . . . What makes Engels story collection so rich and compelling is that the Colombian American author places her tales in the context of universal themes: the compromises we make for love, the lies we tell ourselves and others, betrayal, paranoia, grief, joy, acceptance . . . . Engelknows how to draw in readers fastand keep them . . . . [she]entices you with irresistible opening lines over and over.Manuel Roig-Franzia, The Washington Post

One of our most essential writers . . . . Engels gift for dialogue and her lyrical powers of description make these stories crackle, but its her bittersweet insight into the costs of leavingand staying!home that will lodgeThe Faraway Worldin your heart.Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire

"Any fan of Engels work will tell you to prepare yourself for unique and intimate layered storytelling. You'll find that and so much more in this new short story collection exploring themes of community, regret and migration."TODAY

When youre in a dark place, you just want someone next to you with a (proverbial) flashlight, holding your hand. Patricia Engeldoes that in this evocative collective featuring Colombians and Colombian expats teetering on the line between despair, and resilience.Erin Kodicek, Amazon Best Book of the Month

Wistful and understated . . . . [its] characters have astonishingly complex relationships to places theyve never seen or havent been to in many years, since they emigrated to another place . . . .The Faraway Worldis a collection about the Latin American diaspora, but its also one that proves how Engel, like one of her characters, is capable of noticing that between any two people a look reveals more than a fingerprint. Leigh Newman, New York Times Book Review

Most of the ten stories have a pair of characters at their center, the intersection of their lives sizzling like crossed wires. . .Engels gift for dialogue makes it a pleasure to read. . . full of ironic flair, imagination, and empathy. Marion Winik, WYPRs The Weekly Reader

Stellar . . .luminous [and] assured . . . . Engel places her own faith in the story behind each story; what shimmers off the page is as vital as the pieces themselves. She gracefully weaves the quiet despair of individual lives with the fury of social upheaval. With its dreamy, ephemeral title, The Faraway Worldhints at what lies beyond our grasp; and yet it grounds our fates in our own hands.Hamilton Cain, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"These 10 compelling stories follow characters that feel as real as I do, grappling with human struggles that feel both uniquely new and nearly universal. If you're looking for a collection that will touch your heart and make you look at your fellow humans more generously, this one's a can't-miss."Good Housekeeping

[This] collection lives up to Engels well-deserved reputation . . . . Each story is compelling in its own way. Engels writing has a propulsive effect, carrying readers forward, and her characters are fascinating.Southern Review of Books

"Patricia Engel is the kind of writer other writers love to envy. How could we not There is a steady, consistent, and exquisite control in her prose. There is her rare ability to craft extraordinary situations out of this ordinary world . . . . There is also such unexpected beauty in her sentences . . . . I must be honest here: Im still working on getting over my envious ways. Engels latest,The Faraway World,may have set me back some. But I suppose we can agree theres enchantment in surrendering to an expert working at this level. Especially, if it is in service of looting some of her magic."Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park

Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love . . . . With flowing, beautiful language, Engel shows us a gritty reality, but mixes in doses of dark humor and empathy.Book Riot

A powerful new story collection that captures the diasporic experience of the modern Americas in all its complexity, nuance, and humanity . . . . Her stories also move between registersat times sweeping and tinged with history, other times intensely personal. Always, her characters are real people, dealing with real struggles, rendered beautifully, with insight and understanding. Dwyer Murphy, Lit Hub

Ahaunting read . . . . No matter how far these stories travel, Engel infuses intimacy and care in every single life she writes.Chicago Review of Books

A pleasure to read . . . . Engel's multinational update of dirty realism is full of ironic flair, imagination, and empathy. Kirkus Reviews(starred)

Author Bio

Patricia Engel is the author ofInfinite Country,aNew York Timesbestseller and Reeses Book Club selection;The Veins of the Ocean, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize;Its Not Love, Its Just Paris, winner of the International Latino Book Award;andVida, a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway and Young Lions Fiction Awards,New York TimesNotable Book, and winner of Colombiasnational book award, the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana.She is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her stories appear inThe Best American Short Stories,The Best American Mystery Stories,The O. Henry Prize Stories, and elsewhere. Born to Colombian parents, and herself a dual citizen, Patricia is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Miami.