Wandering Souls

Philip Caputo was born in Chicago in 1941 and educated at Purdue and Loyola Universities. After graduating in 1964, he served in the US Marine Corps for three years, including a sixteen‑month tour of duty in Vietnam. In addition to Memory and Desire, he has written seventeen books, among them three memoirs, ten works of fiction, and four of general nonfiction. His first book, A Rumor of War, is considered a classic of war literature. It has been published in fifteen languages and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, Caputo has written dozens of articles in major magazines, op‑ed pieces, and reviews for publications across the United States, including the New York Times, National Geographic, and the Chicago Tribune. He lives in Norwalk, Connecticut, and Patagonia, Arizona.

Praise for Wandering Souls“Caputo brilliantly examines the lingering moral and psychological costs of conflict, in which memory functions as both wound and tether. A searing yet deeply compassionate story collection that explores the fragile borders between survival, guilt, and redemption.”—Booklist, starred review“Caputo's new story collection is characterized by an authenticity that will appeal to readers of the almost-journalistic fiction of Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway.”—Library Journal“When Phil Caputo writes, I read. From 2007 to 2023, while researching my latest book on the American War in Vietnam, I had separate copies of Phil’s A Rumor of War in both my homes in Vietnam and Connecticut. I honestly cannot remember how many times I read that classic and Phil’s subsequent page-turners. I have traveled through Phil’s masterful books from Hanoi to Key West, from Saigon to Alaska and marveled at his refined skill at introducing me to new people and places. I recently again journeyed to compelling new worlds with Phil’s elegant new gem, Wandering Souls.”—James Bradley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Flags of our Fathers and Precious Freedom“A resonant story collection in which characters seek connection and atonement under extreme circumstances . . . fans will be thrilled to find that his powers remain undiminished.”—Publishers WeeklyPraise for Philip Caputo“With his journalist’s eye for detail and his novelist’s sensibility for the nuances of human behavior, Philip Caputo has crafted a tour-de-force story of love in the modern world and of mental illness that will resonate with the reader long after its breathtaking finale.”—Madeleine Blais, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of To the New Owners and Queen of the Court"Caputo’s fluid yarn unspools at just the right pace, ultimately knitting together the themes of loyalty, betrayal, unbreakable bonds, and the lingering taste of a long-ago passion."—Booklist“Caputo’s wisdom runs deep. Few writers have better captured the emotional lives of men.”?New York Times Book Review, front-page review“Caputo knows how to set a scene and build tension through detail. . . . His prose is tough-minded but not without compassion, and he brings experience from one part of the world to another.”?Seattle Times“A master investigator of the human psyche in the mold of Chekhov, Tolstoy, and Bellow.”?Philipp Meyer, author of The Son“A superb storyteller.”—Library Journal“A master of his craft.”?Booklist “An acute observer of human disorder and disarray."?Kirkus Reviews