Room on the Sea: Three Novellas

Bestselling Aciman (Call Me by Your Name) returns with a collection of three novellas that explore longing. In “A Gentleman from Peru,” a dapper gentleman sits alone at a resort in southern Italy, observing a group of young Americans. When the Americans become aware of his interest, they invite him to join them. He surprises them by first diagnosing and then healing the shoulder injury of one of the young people, then revealing secrets about each of them. He also believes that he has met one of them in a past life. Is he a faith healer, a mentalist, or a charlatan? “Mariana” is a tale of obsession about a woman whose life falls apart when her love affair with a colleague ends abruptly. Although she knows he is a liar and a cheat, she is willing to demean herself for any small part of his attention. In the collection’s title story, while serving jury duty, two prospective jurors meet and form an immediate connection.