There’s a moment in the title story of this beautiful, quietly shattering collection when the protagonist recalls being with an ex-boyfriend: “She almost wished to return to those times, to the fidelity of being she had felt then, the streaming across into each other, the mornings spent in bed when a thought that might have been his became hers.” This luminous image of union is in sharp contrast with the lonely disconnection not only of the protagonist’s current relationship, but of all relationships in this book. Barcelona is the second collection of short stories and fourth work of fiction from...