It Will Come Back to You: Collected Stories
Riverhead Books, Hardcover, July 14, 2026
Over the course of thirty years, Sigrid Nunez has become one of contemporary fiction’s most distinctive voices, producing nine penetrating, profound novels celebrated by fans and critics alike. Revered for her warm, unadorned style, Nunez’s books are “as sophisticated as they are straightforward” (New York Times Magazine), melding a “wry, withering wit” (NPR) with “explosions of pathos” (Washington Post) to conjure “world[s] of insight into death, grief, art, and love” (Wall Street Journal).
But she has not, until now, produced a book of stories. In It Will Come Back to You, Nunez brings together thirteen of her best stories from the decades-long sweep of her career, tracing the origins of her style and her remarkable artistic range. Moving from the momentous to the mundane, Nunez maintains her expert balance between gravity and levity while probing the philosophical questions that illuminate her work, such as: How can we withstand the passage of time? Is memory the greatest fiction?
What New York Times critic Dwight Garner says of Nunez’s novels is true of these stories as well: “They are wise, provocative, funny—good and strong company.”
ADVANCE PRAISE
“[D]azzling…Nunez has a gift for surprise, whether it’s in the turn a sentence or story takes, the little revelations that detonate as a seemingly matter-of-fact story unwinds or the variety of protagonists and settings in her stories. She also knows how to calibrate despair and surprising joy, leaving the reader giddily off-balance. Each of these stories…reverberates long after it ends.” – Booklist, starred review
“Nunez, winner of the National Book Award for The Friend, offers more close readings of human nature in this masterful career-spanning story collection. Taken together, the entries reveal her considerable range…. 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.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Nunez delivers vivid portraits of people living quiet lives of desperation in these sterling short stories…. A welcome addition to an already much esteemed body of work.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Spanning her career, [Nunez’s] stories promise the same brilliant writing from one of our best writers.” Lit Hub: Most Anticipated Books of 2026
Oprah Daily also includes It Will Come Back to You among the Most Anticipated Books of 2026, calling it a book that “show[s] how [Nunez] can turn the everyday into something quietly devastating, then slip in a line that makes you laugh despite yourself. Think grief, art, love, mortality, and the strange intimacy of ordinary conversation—now in perfectly sharp, tasty, bite-size form. And both The Guardian and The Irish Times name It Will Come Back to You among the best fiction to look forward to in 2026.
“Like all of 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.” Harper’s Bazaar Guide to Summer 2026 Books
“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.” Los Angeles Times, 12 Best Summer Books
Oprah Daily includes It Will Come Back to You among the 24 Best Books of Summer 2026: “Thirteen pieces spanning thirty years, each one 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.”
“Nunez accomplishes in her stories what we have come to expect of her from her marvelous novels: a no-nonsense honesty, a matchless intelligence, an unswerving empathy, and a breathtaking intimacy of voice.” Jenny Mustard
“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. Across the thirteen stories I noticed certain wry commonalities: the ambivalent protagonist who keeps receiving advice that she doesn’t know whether to rely on or not; the liminal space of a holiday, transit or transaction that causes odd memories to rise up; and mothers of all kinds. Her uncertain protagonists in an uncertain world are the perfect literary creations: vexed in their own lives but delightful to encounter. ” Bidisha