Whereabouts, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Subtitled A Novel, this book is a collection of short vignettes by an unnamed narrator, each named by where it takes place: “On the Sidewalk,” “In the Office,” etc. A picture gradually emerges of a 45-year-old woman in an unnamed Italian town whose “heart” is not really in her new teaching job, a woman who says, “Solitude: It’s become my trade.”

She seems very alone. Her colleagues keep to themselves. She has a few friends, one a married man with whom she might have once been involved with. T...