Table for Two: Fictions

A young Russian entrepreneur, an aspiring author–turned–forger, a husband’s secret hobby, a Carnegie Hall bootlegger, and a novella of old Hollywood feature in this collection of richly crafted stories from the artful novelist who wrote A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway. In “The Ballad of Timothy Touchett,” a starving young novelist is persuaded by a bookseller to forge another author’s signature on a first edition of a book, increasing its value at auction. This becomes a lucrative gig for the young novelist, until he forges one too many signatures and is caught in the act. This tale, like the others in Towles’s collection, turns on a quirk of the human condition and provides readers with a satisfying surprise ending. Reading these stories feels like getting an unexpected treat with one’s afternoon tea.