You turn the book over in your hands, you scan the sentences on the back of the jacket, generic phrases that don’t say a great deal. So much the better, there is no message that indiscreetly outshouts the message that the book itself must communicate directly, that you must extract from the book, however much or little it may be…. – Italo Calvino

The nine “adventures” and two longer tales—“Smog” and “A Plunge into Real Estate”—of Difficult Loves achieve that almost miraculous balance between the obvious and the indescribable, the real and the imaginary, the familiar and the fabulous. Calvino transforms the lives of ordinary people into brilliant explorations of intricate interior worlds. Through a mystery encounter between a soldier and a widow, the obsession of a photographer, the anticipation of a long-distance romance, and more, Calvino tells the tales with elegance and precision, weaving into his writing instances of recognition in which he cherishes the deceptions and illusions of love swept away.