BLISS MONTAGE,

BY LING MA

Ma’s new collection incorporates elements of magical realism to explore our shared delusions regarding love, loneliness, and belonging. In “G,” two female friends, both Chinese immigrants, experiment with a drug that makes them invisible, which also sparks the realization that their cultural heritage is the only thing they have in common. In “Returning,” a woman travels with her husband to his fictional native country, where they participate in a morbid rite in an attempt to save their marriage. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)