The Vanishing Point

Author: Paul Theroux

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) | Short stories

Published on 22^nd January 2026 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback / softback | 336 pages
197mm x 130mm | 234g

From the bestselling novelist, travel writer, and “master of the short story” (NPR) comes a brilliant new collection.

The stories in The Vanishing Point are both exotic and domestic, their settings ranging from Hawaii to Africa and New England. Each focuses on life’s vanishing points—a moment when seemingly all lines running through one’s life converge, and one can see no farther, yet must deal with the implications. With the insight, subtlety, and empathy that has long characterized his work, Theroux has written deeply moving stories about memory, longing, and the passing of time, reclaiming his status, once again, as a master of the form.

‘The most gifted, most prodigal writer of his generation’ Jonathan Raban‘The most exciting contemporary practitioner of a literary tradition honed to elegantly crafted terseness by Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. A terrific teller of tales and conjurer of exotic locales’ Sunday Times