Let All Our Ghosts Depart: Stories
Available September 1, 2026 | Pre-Order Now
—
—
“Visionary . . . Every page offers something gorgeous, savage, and unexpected. Meghana Mysore is an extraordinary talent, and her work is unforgettable.” —Susan Choi, National Book Award-winning author of Flashlight and Trust Exercise
In Meghana Mysore's debut short story collection, present-day women and girls of the South Asian diaspora grapple with belonging and are haunted by intergenerational inheritances. In the world of these stories, ghosts are real--in “Repair Shop,” dead mothers reappear as chiding, broken-down cars; in “Hoarder,” the narrator’s ex-lovers transform into scarves that won't let her go. In another story, a daughter, trapped inside her grief, spends her days Face Timing with her dead father, watching him become a young man she never knew.
At turns absurd and darkly humorous, and sometimes speculative, Mysore’s stories touch on real-life experiences of intergenerational trauma, womanhood, the fluidity of desire and longing, and coming home to one’s body. Each of these stories contains an experience of transformation, be it small or monumental for these women, who find spaces of freedom and delight within their circumstances.
—
Pre-order from WVU Press
Pre-order from Bookshop.org
Pre-order from Barnes & Noble
Pre-order from Amazon
Praise
"Let All Our Ghosts Depart is a work of wonder. Kaleidoscopic and introspective, this book is a testament to the expansive and transformative power of storytelling. Examining grief and loss, loneliness and intimacy, the longings and desires of women, and the tarnished brightness of being alive, these stories are as multifaceted as memory itself.” —K-Ming Chang, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Bestiary, Gods of Want, and Organ Meats
"Let All Our Ghosts Depart is a beautiful and imaginative collection, filled with characters who are longing to make sense of themselves, their relationships, and the losses that haunt them. With humor and insight, these stories ask us to reflect on what we owe each other and ourselves. A thrilling debut." —Marian Crotty, author of Near Strangers and What Counts as Love
“In melancholic and poetic prose that reflects the characters’ psychic distance from the worlds they inhabit, the stories in Let All Our Ghosts Depart explore powerful themes through the eyes of women longing to find connection and meaning across several generations of dislocation.” —Jessie Ren Marshall, author of Women! In! Peril!
“Let All Our Ghosts Depart is an extraordinary collection in its inventiveness and originality, and in its creation of distinct and unique characters. Meghana Mysore's glorious debut explores experiences of the Indian-American diaspora with beauty and precision and humor; she writes about grief and longing like no one else. A magnificent collection." —Karen E. Bender, author of The Words of Dr. L. and Other Stories and National Book Award Finalist
"There’s a strangeness born of real life that only fiction can reach; these haunting, wholly original stories illuminate the ways in which we both connect with and miss the most important people in our lives." —Sejal Shah, author of How To Make Your Mother Cry: Fictions and the essay collection This Is One Way to Dance
