To be a man

A teenage girl lies on the floor of her dorm room and tells her friends about the businessman who gave her his hotel number on a 500 franc note. An ageing professor, brought back to life, flees with his newborn grandchild to the rooftop. Two sisters return home for their parents' divorce ceremony to find their home town on fire. As the government issues warnings about toxic gas in the atmosphere, a woman cries over a game of Scrabble in her sealed-up home.

Unfurling their bright petals with elegance, humanity and mystery, Nicole Krauss's blazingly brilliant stories explore death, violence and desire with absolute mastery.