A debut collection of stories set in a hauntingly reimagined Lagos where characters vie for freedom from ancestral ties. In this beguiling collection of twelve imaginative stories set in Lagos, Nigeria, ’Pemi Aguda dramatizes the tension between our yearning to be individuals and the ways we are haunted by what came before. In “Manifest,” a woman sees the ghost of her abusive mother in her daughter’s face. Shortly after, the daughter is overtaken by wicked and destructive impulses. In “Breastmilk,” a wife forgives her husband for his infidelity. Months later, when she is unable to produce milk for her newborn, she blames herself for failing to uphold her mother’s feminist values and doubts her fitness for motherhood. In “Things Boys Do,” a trio of fathers finds something unnatural and unnerving about their infant sons. As their lives rapidly fall to pieces, they begin to fear that their sons are the cause of their troubles. And in “24, Alhaji Williams Street,” a teenage boy lives in the shadow of a mysterious disease that’s killing the boys on his street. These and other stories in Ghostroots map emotional and physical worlds that lay bare the forces of family, myth, tradition, gender, and modernity in Nigerian society. Powered by a deep empathy and glinting with humor, they announce a major new literary talent.

An evocative tale of intrigue, romance, and treachery, Carol Goodman’s spellbinding new novel, The Night Villa, follows the fascinating lives of two remarkable women centuries apart. The eruption of Italy’s Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 buried a city and its people, their treasures and secrets. Centuries later, echoes of this disaster resonate with profound consequences in the life of classics professor Sophie Chase. In the aftermath of a tragic shooting on the University of Texas campus, Sophie seeks sanctuary on the isle of Capri, immersing herself in her latest scholarly project alongside her colleagues, her star pupil, and their benefactor, the compelling yet enigmatic business mogul John Lyros. Beneath layers of volcanic ash lies the Villa della Notte–the Night Villa–home to first-century nobles, as well as to the captivating slave girl at the heart of an ancient controversy. And secreted in a subterranean labyrinth rests a cache of antique documents believed lost to the ages: a prize too tantalizing for Sophie to resist. But suspicion, fear, and danger roam the long-untrodden tunnels and chambers beneath the once sumptuous estate–especially after Sophie sees the face of her former lover in the darkness, leaving her to wonder if she is chasing shadows or succumbing to the siren song of the Night Villa. Whatever shocking events transpired in the face of Vesuvius’s fury have led to deeper, darker machinations that inexorably draw Sophie into their vortex, rich in stunning revelations and laden with unseen menace. Praise for The Night Villa “Visit The Night Villa: Carol Goodman’ s luminous prose and superb storytelling will keep you entertained into the late hours.”—Nancy Pickard “The pleasure of a Carol Goodman novel is in her enviable command of the classical canon–and the deft way she [writes] a book that’s light enough for a weekend on the beach but literary enough for a weekend in the Hamptons.”—Chicago Tribune

The prestigious annual story anthology includes prize-winning stories by Jamil Jan Kochai, David Ryan, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Lisa Taddeo, Ling Ma, Catherine Lacey, and Cristina Rivera Garza. “[A] standout collection . . . . Dazzling performances from some of today’s most exciting writers. . . . This is one of the best fiction anthologies in years.” —Publishers Weekly starred review Continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence, this year's edition contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Lauren Groff has brought her own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices and including several stories in translation. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Groff, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction. AN ANCHOR BOOKS ORIGINAL. THE WINNING STORIES: “Office Hours,” by Ling Ma “Man Mountain,” by Catherine Lacey “Me, Rory and Aurora,” by Jonas Eika, translated from the Danish by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg “The Complete,” by Gabriel Smith “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak," by Jamil Jan Kochai “Wisconsin,” by Lisa Taddeo “Ira & the Whale,” by Rachel B. Glaser “The Commander’s Teeth,” by Naomi Shuyama-Gómez “The Mad People of Paris,” Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead “Snake & Submarine,” by Shelby Kinney-Lang “The Mother,” by Jacob M’hango “The Hollow,” by ’Pemi Aguda “Dream Man,” by Cristina Rivera Garza, translated from the Spanish by Francisca González-Arias “The Locksmith,” by Grey Wolfe LaJoie “After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool,” by Kirstin Valdez Quade “Happy Is a Doing Word,” by Arinze Ifeakandu “Elision,” by David Ryan “Xífù,” by K-Ming Chang “Temporary Housing,” by Kathleen Alcott “The Blackhills,” by Eamon McGuinness