Paris Stories

Mavis Gallant · 1922–2014 · Canada

Why it matters

The definitive NYRB Classics gathering of six decades' New Yorker stories about refugees, war orphans, and expatriates adrift across postwar Europe, rendered with a cool, exact irony that never asks for pity. The career-spanning introduction to one of the short story's great, underread masters.

At a glance

Elliptical, understated narration and shifting European settings reward patient, attentive reading.