It Will Come Back to You: from the bestselling author of THE FRIEND - 'Reading her work feels like having lunch with your smartest, wisest, most empathetic friend' (LA Times)

About the Book

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE SUMMER BY VOGUE, HARPER'S BAZAAR, LA TIMES AND BOSTON GLOBE - AND ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS FOR 2026

The first ever collection of short stories from the New York Times bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend

'Once you discover Sigrid Nunez, you don't look back' ANNE ENRIGHT

'Among the most interesting writers of our generation' INDEPENDENT

'Nunez [has] a no-nonsense honesty, a matchless intelligence, an unswerving empathy, and a breathtaking intimacy of voice' JENNY MUSTARD

'One of the great writers of our time...Reading [Nunez's] work feels like having lunch with your smartest, wisest, most empathetic friend' LOS ANGELES TIMES

It Will Come Back to You takes in thirteen stories - never before collected together - from a career spanning three decades, which has seen Nunez become one of contemporary fiction's most distinctive voices. Moving from an inappropriate teenage crush to a therapist's second chance at love, in this collection Nunez maintains her irrepressible humour, bite, and insight, while exploring the philosophical questions we have come to expect from her writing.

'Nunez injects these stories with a deep tenderness and a wry sense of humor, all the while challenging our conceptions of what it means to live an ordinary life' HARPERS BAZAAR, 'Best Summer Books 2026'

'Nunez is one of American fiction's most crisp and realized voices. Like the food in a good restaurant, her prose is excellent but unfussy' NEW YORK TIMES

'The stories show [Nunez's] gift for turning apparently ordinary lives into something stranger, funnier and more searching than they first appear' iPAPER, 'The best new books to read in July 2026'

'It Will Come Back to You should make you want to imbibe every word Nunez has ever written' TLS

'Long live Sigrid Nunez' LAURA MARLING

'A treat' OPRAH DAILY, 'Best Books of the Summer 2026'

'There are two kinds of people in the world, people who haven't read Sigrid Nunez, and people who love Sigrid Nunez' CLAIRE KOHDA

'Wonderful . . . Her uncertain protagonists in an uncertain world are the perfect literary creations: vexed in their own lives but delightful to encounter' BIDISHA

About the Author :
Sigrid Nunez is the New York Times bestselling author of The Friend, winner of the 2018 National Book Award, and of seven other novels, including Salvation City, The Last of Her Kind, What Are You Going Through and The Vulnerables. She is also the author of Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and two of her books have recently been made into films: What Are You Going Through was the basis for Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door (starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore) and The Friend has been made into a film starring Naomi Watts.

Review :
Sigrid Nunez is one of American fiction's most crisp and realized voices. Like the food in a good restaurant, her prose is excellent but unfussy It Will Come Back to You should make you want to imbibe every word Nunez has ever written One of the great writers of our time ... With remarkable tenderness, Nunez navigates themes of aging, death and mental illness. Reading her work feels like having lunch with your smartest, wisest, most empathetic friend The stories show Nunez's gift for turning apparently ordinary lives into something stranger, funnier and more searching than they first appear Typical of Nunez's astonishing precision as a writer, of which this collection provides a dazzling display Nunez injects these stories with a deep tenderness and a wry sense of humor, all the while challenging our conceptions of what it means to live an ordinary life With It Will Come Back to You, Nunez wonderfully accomplishes in her stories what we have come to expect of her from her marvellous novels: a no-nonsense honesty, a matchless intelligence, an unswerving empathy, and a breathtaking intimacy of voice. Her prose manages at once to be absolutely singular, yet so easy to love. Every page is a joy, not a single sentence is wasted. Nunez has long since established herself as one of my favourite authors A treat ... each story showing how Nunez can turn the everyday into something quietly devastating, then slip in a line that makes you laugh despite yourself. Expect grief, art, love, mortality, and the strange intimacy of ordinary conversation-now in perfectly tart, bite-size form There are two kinds of people in the world, people who haven't read Sigrid Nunez, and people who love Sigrid Nunez' This is a wonderful collection and brilliant showcase for Sigrid Nunez's many talents. She excels in the intriguing start, the curious setting and the mischievous end. Her uncertain protagonists in an uncertain world are the perfect literary creations: vexed in their own lives but delightful to encounter Masterful ... Nunez's sharp wit remains a steady presence across the collection, roaming freely from one heavy subject to the next without ever slipping into sentimentality. It's a treasure trove Nunez is a strong writer at every level, but she's especially good at closings that nail their points in place, from the everyday to the sublime ... Nunez's stories make a welcome addition to an already much esteemed body of work A dazzling collection ... Each of these stories, even the most ostensibly wispy, reverberates long after it ends