First published 2025
A researcher living abroad in Rome counts down the days until her long-distance lover arrives for a visit. When he finally comes, she discovers he has changed in ways she never expected. The man she remembers exists only in her memory now. In another story, an expat encounters a childhood friend during a brief airport layover. The friend's unexpected happiness unsettles her in ways she cannot explain. A newly pregnant woman knows American custom says to wait before sharing her news, but when a chance comes to repair a broken friendship, she breaks the rule. These characters have chosen displacement over staying put. They work to build new lives while remaining tied to the people they left behind. Savas captures the particular loneliness of modern connectivity, where physical distance can feel both bridgeable and insurmountable.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, modern-connectivity
Setting: Rome
Period: Modern
229 pages · Paperback · Scribner