What Isn't Remembered

Winner of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, the stories in explore the burden, the power, and the nature of love between people who often feel misplaced and estranged from their deepest selves and the world, where they cannot find a home. The characters yearn not only to redefine themselves and rebuild their relationships but also to recover lost loves—a parent, a child, a friend, a spouse, a partner. A young man longs for his mother’s love while grieving the loss of his older brother. A mother’s affair sabotages her relationship with her daughter, causing a lifelong feud between the two. A divorced man struggles to come to terms with his failed marriage and his family’s genocidal past while trying to persuade his father to start cancer treatments. A high school girl feels responsible for the death of her best friend, and the guilt continues to haunt her decades later. Evocative and lyrical, the tales in uncover complex events and emotions, as well as the unpredictable ways in which people adapt to what happens in their lives, finding solace from the most surprising and unexpected sources.  


Genre: Literary Fiction

"The stories in What Isn’t Remembered are what I call wayfaring. Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry is unafraid to wend her way through the experience of being alive in her time, and her people are given the great respect of full portrayals in prose that is both delicately rendered and tough. . . . These stories will be remembered by anyone fortunate enough to spend time with them. Congratulations to a new original and powerful voice." - Richard Bausch

"You can read Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry’s What Isn’t Remembered for a revealing look into the lives of Russian immigrants in the U.S., or for the fearless depiction of relationships between women; but most of all you should read her for the startlingly gorgeous language she employs to powerful effect in story after story, from the title piece, ‘What Isn’t Remembered,’ with its lavish allusions to classical music and the convincing correlations between life and love and art, to the heartbreaking ‘Boys On the Moskva River,’ with its portrait of a family struggling to survive during the slow collapse of the Soviet Union. What Isn’t Remembered may be a literary debut, but Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry is a writer who comes to us in full blossom. She has clearly traveled a long road to bring us this brilliant first collection of stories." - Ed Falco

"What Isn't Remembered is an extraordinary work of fiction: Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry has given us stories that are immersive and so richly imagined, alternately elegiac and slyly comic, always arresting and lyrical. I wanted to live in the worlds Gorcheva-Newberry has so skillfully created in one story after another. I loved this book." - Christine Sneed

"Spanning ages and continents, the stories in Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry’s collection focus on complex people facing the greatest life challenges. In the best traditions of Russian and American classics, the stories are at times raw and heart-wrenching, at other times uplifting, but always a true pleasure to read!" - Lara Vapnyar