Granta | The Home of New Writing

Explore Fiction

Lady Max

Paul Theroux

‘You didn't become a Londoner simply by living there. After seven years I was still an alien.’

Last Day on Earth

Eric Puchner

‘Despite my efforts at denial the new reality of our lives was beginning to sink in.’

Lessons

Justin Torres

‘We were six snatching hands, six stomping feet; we were brothers, boys, three little kings locked in a feud for more.’

Letter of Apology

Maria Reva

‘One can only argue with an intellectual like Konstantyn Illych if one speaks to him on his level.’

Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders

‘Must I deny my predilection, and marry, and doom myself to a certain, shall we say, dearth of fulfillment?’

Lois and Varga

Lisa Taddeo

‘Shells, like the kind on the sand of the beach, that’s all they are. That’s all any of us are. All these colored shells, each one trying to be picked up before the rest.’ New fiction by Lisa Taddeo.

Look at Me, I’m Beautiful!

Ben Rice

‘When I came back from Gwen's I had expected to find him in the throes of his midlife koisis—you know—trimming an anal fin in the bath, or nursing a slime coat at the very least.’

Look Out, Narendran!

Subha

A madman is dead set on blowing up the Taj Mahal, and there’s only one pair of detectives who can stop him. Tamil Pulp Fiction at its best.

Lost Children

Irene Reyes-Noguerol

‘The Girls sees. The Girl hears. The Girl says nothing.’

Fiction by Irene Reyes-Noguerol.

Low

Jeet Thayil

‘Quitting drugs – what an idea. How final and unaccommodating. Like being left without faith or protection in a pagan world.’ An extract from Jeet Thayil’s Low.

Maid Marian

Lisa Taddeo

‘It had taken Noni many years to stop wishing she’d been a woman like that.’

Marching Songs

Keith Ridgway

‘I believe, though I cannot prove, that my illness is due directly to the perverted Catholicism and megalomania of Mr Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, whom I met once.’

Marek Marek

Olga Tokarczuk

‘It hurt for no particular reason, just as the sun rises each morning and the stars come out each night. ’

Martha, Martha

Zadie Smith

‘Outside a plane roared low like some prehistoric bird, Pam shuddered; Martha did not move.’