Walter, Jess

Jess Walter is the author of 10 books, including the national bestseller The Cold Millions; the #1 New York Times bestseller Beautiful Ruins; The Zero, a finalist for the National Book Award; and Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award. His work has been published in 35 languages and his short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories. We all live like we’re famous now, curating our social media presence, performing our identities, withholding those parts of ourselves we don’t want others to see. In his collection The Angel of Rome: And Other Stories (Harper), Walter tackles the modern condition with a dazzling range of voices, backdrops, and situations. A teenage girl tries to live up to the image of her beautiful, missing mother. An elderly couple confronts the fiction writer eavesdropping on their conversation. A son must repeatedly come out to his senile father while looking for a place to care for the older man. A famous actor in recovery has a one-night stand with the world’s most surprising film critic. And in the romantic title story, a shy 21-year-old studying Latin in Rome finds himself face-to-face with the Italian actress of his adolescent dreams.