People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much

With the puckish humor of Fran Lebowitz and the keen inventiveness of Lydia Davis, Sofi Stambo’s debut collection leans into curiosity, family, and the old-world bonds that draw her motley characters together.

A nervous dog takes flight over Manhattan. A woman soothes her neighbors with multilingual telepathy. A purse snatcher inherits her victim’s scribbled lists—and her worries. In these stories, immigrants to New York City work thei...