In Other Rooms, Other Wonders »

Daniyal Mueenuddin attended Dartmouth College and Yale Law School. After working as a lawyer in New York City, he now manages a farm in Pakistan.

Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in Fiction and the 2009 Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction: a major literary debut that explores class, culture, power, and desire among the ruling and servant classes of Pakistan.

The Barnes & Noble Review

The conventional wisdom that nobody cares about short story collections has more than a few shreds of truth (per Stephen King, editor of 2007's Best American Short Stories: "American short story alive? Check. American short story well? Sorry, no, can't say so"). But the fact remains that each year, at least one collection proves the naysayers wrong, drawing lots of fine reviews and public attention and perhaps even spending a few weeks on the bestseller list. Way back in 1998, the exception was Melissa Bank's comic The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing; ten years later, it was Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant Unaccustomed Earth. In 2009, the counter-example should be -- if there is any justice in book publishing -- In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin, a Pakistan-raised, Ivy League–educated onetime New York lawyer now living and writing on a farm in Khanpur.

Nawabdin Electrician 13

Saleema 29

Provide, Provide 61

About a Burning Girl 97

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders 113

Our Lady of Paris 143

Lily 169

A Spoiled Man 221