Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri is a masterful collection of short stories from a writer at the top of her craft. Written in Italian and translated into English by the author, the stories capture the city of Rome and the lives of both natives of the city and newcomers who might feel like outsiders. “The Steps” focuses on one public staircase that connects two different neighborhoods and explores the rich lives of the people who traverse it every day. In “The Boundary,” a young girl and her family have moved to the countryside following a racist attack on her immigrant father, and she becomes involved with another vacationing family to assuage her loneliness and hurt. Lahiri’s writing is, as always, lyrical and insightful.