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Baby in a Box: Stories
Prescient and idiosyncratic stories about the cost and joys of caretaking from a “sharp-witted, ravishing” (New York Times) writer.
These stunning stories, steeped in black humor, startle and dismay. Unexpected encounters confine and define the lives of strangers, while parents and partners navigate blended families and modern An older woman tells her waitress that she once left a newborn on church steps. A motel housekeeper makes a radical proposal to a guest. A teenager grapples with atheism and grief and eBay. A mother’s world is disrupted and recharged after a neighborhood man gives her young daughter a telescope.
Throughout this bracing collection, we see parents doing their not-so-great best, breakups going wrong, obsessions getting out of hand—and yet moments of healing too, often where we least expect them. Strange, heartfelt, and wryly funny, Sarah Braunstein’s stories ask us to confront the ways we try to make sense of our lives—and what happens when we escape from these preconceptions.
These stunning stories, steeped in black humor, startle and dismay. Unexpected encounters confine and define the lives of strangers, while parents and partners navigate blended families and modern An older woman tells her waitress that she once left a newborn on church steps. A motel housekeeper makes a radical proposal to a guest. A teenager grapples with atheism and grief and eBay. A mother’s world is disrupted and recharged after a neighborhood man gives her young daughter a telescope.
Throughout this bracing collection, we see parents doing their not-so-great best, breakups going wrong, obsessions getting out of hand—and yet moments of healing too, often where we least expect them. Strange, heartfelt, and wryly funny, Sarah Braunstein’s stories ask us to confront the ways we try to make sense of our lives—and what happens when we escape from these preconceptions.
218 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 9, 2026
About the author
Sarah Braunstein
5 books89 followersSarah Braunstein is the author of Bad Animals and The Sweet Relief of Missing Children. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker and the Harvard Review. The recipient of a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” award, she lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches at Colby College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 18, 2026
This is not only the best collection of short stories I’ve ever read, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life. Full stop. No exaggeration, no scam, no regrets. Like, I kind of don’t even wanna tell y’all because then you’ll know and you’ll read it and love it and I just want these all to myself. I wanna eat this book like a damn goat.
Every story in here, whether it’s kids losing their souls and their wits to mail-in-payment eBay scams, people losing babies, keeping babies, finding babies, having babies, characters coming together at all odds and brushing each other’s humanity so precisely, so exactly with prose that is unexplainably laced with this addicting page turning literary magic…
Braunstein does this thing in every story, it’s this THING I don’t have a word or a term for, but she’s able to either suddenly or slowly, whichever way the story requires, elevate it above the ground it starts on. You don’t quite realize you’re floating until you are and you can see the story for what it is, you can see something about yourself for what you are, because of whatever it is she’s done in text as she tells each story.
Baby in a Box: two sections, Lost and Found, eleven stories across them each precisely a distilled galaxy. I both couldn’t stop reading and had to stop after each story’s ending that perfectly toes the edge of the cliff that peers into the surreal but doesn’t lose its footing even once.
Top whatever list of all time favorite books for me. Easily. No one’s doing it like this—maybe Maxine Rosaler in The Missing Kidney had a few that could stand alongside these eleven, maybe Aysegul Savas has written some in Long Distance that I liked close to this too. This was Interpreter of Maladies good, I think. This is that kind of perfection in my eyes. I’m stunned it’s only coming out in paperback this June. It should be bound in threaded gold. Shall I go on? Get this baby in a box on the way to your HOUSE already.
Thanks for the free copy @w.w.norton — cannot believe I got so lucky as to get this and to open it and read it immediately. Like I said, sometimes you hold a book and you just know this is the one. People; this is the one.
Every story in here, whether it’s kids losing their souls and their wits to mail-in-payment eBay scams, people losing babies, keeping babies, finding babies, having babies, characters coming together at all odds and brushing each other’s humanity so precisely, so exactly with prose that is unexplainably laced with this addicting page turning literary magic…
Braunstein does this thing in every story, it’s this THING I don’t have a word or a term for, but she’s able to either suddenly or slowly, whichever way the story requires, elevate it above the ground it starts on. You don’t quite realize you’re floating until you are and you can see the story for what it is, you can see something about yourself for what you are, because of whatever it is she’s done in text as she tells each story.
Baby in a Box: two sections, Lost and Found, eleven stories across them each precisely a distilled galaxy. I both couldn’t stop reading and had to stop after each story’s ending that perfectly toes the edge of the cliff that peers into the surreal but doesn’t lose its footing even once.
Top whatever list of all time favorite books for me. Easily. No one’s doing it like this—maybe Maxine Rosaler in The Missing Kidney had a few that could stand alongside these eleven, maybe Aysegul Savas has written some in Long Distance that I liked close to this too. This was Interpreter of Maladies good, I think. This is that kind of perfection in my eyes. I’m stunned it’s only coming out in paperback this June. It should be bound in threaded gold. Shall I go on? Get this baby in a box on the way to your HOUSE already.
Thanks for the free copy @w.w.norton — cannot believe I got so lucky as to get this and to open it and read it immediately. Like I said, sometimes you hold a book and you just know this is the one. People; this is the one.
Did Not Finish
June 1, 2026(DNF)
I just want to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me receive a copy of the audiobook, but I cannot go further into this book (for the sake of my time).
I'll try to be as vague as possible for potential interested readers and give as much feedback to the author.
This book definitely was not my cup of tea when it came to the writing and audiobook narrator, and I tend to be very picky on that. I've only managed to make it past the first story.
What I didn't like/things for consideration:
1. The flow of the story
2. I wouldn't describe someone attractive by stating, “His belly button was a long crater.”
3. Jaiden doesn't talk like his age suggests (he's 23), and he sounds more like a teenager.
4. Penny not wanting a child but also wanting to be a grandmother didn't make sense.
5. The comment about the newborn baby being abandoned in the toilet saying, “But did it need that much news coverage?”
6. The ending felt unfinished and rushed, and I expected a confrontation from Jaiden to Margo.
I just want to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me receive a copy of the audiobook, but I cannot go further into this book (for the sake of my time).
I'll try to be as vague as possible for potential interested readers and give as much feedback to the author.
This book definitely was not my cup of tea when it came to the writing and audiobook narrator, and I tend to be very picky on that. I've only managed to make it past the first story.
What I didn't like/things for consideration:
1. The flow of the story
2. I wouldn't describe someone attractive by stating, “His belly button was a long crater.”
3. Jaiden doesn't talk like his age suggests (he's 23), and he sounds more like a teenager.
4. Penny not wanting a child but also wanting to be a grandmother didn't make sense.
5. The comment about the newborn baby being abandoned in the toilet saying, “But did it need that much news coverage?”
6. The ending felt unfinished and rushed, and I expected a confrontation from Jaiden to Margo.
June 18, 2026
This one is hard for me to rate, because the writing was good and I can see people really enjoying these stories, but it also just wasn't for me. It was interesting and I finished it, but I couldn't really connect at all. My review should not dissuade you if you like literary fiction, especially about women and their relationships to children and/or parents.
I received a free ALC for library employees from Libro.fm.
I received a free ALC for library employees from Libro.fm.
July 23, 2026
Thank you, NetGalley and Highbridge Audio, for the ARC of this audiobook, Baby in a Box.
This audiobook did not connect to me in any way. I felt like it was just very strange stories just kind of hodgepodged together and I didn't follow or connect to anything within them.
This audiobook did not connect to me in any way. I felt like it was just very strange stories just kind of hodgepodged together and I didn't follow or connect to anything within them.
August 19, 2026
Braunstein has such a way with words and characters. Across this collection are stories of loneliness and connection, pivotal moments and life changes, love and lust and the uncertain dance between strangers who cross paths under often mundane circumstances.
September 7, 2026
difficult to rate because yeah these are well-written but also, kind of forgettable and extremely repetitive at times. the standouts from this collection are few and far between but overall, I can say I enjoyed it?
2.5/5 -- favorite stories: abject naturalism, porcupine, all you have to do
2.5/5 -- favorite stories: abject naturalism, porcupine, all you have to do
August 13, 2026
i’m the baby this book is the box and boy did we go on a wild ride together. nearly perfect resonant short stories, collected beautifully.
August 12, 2026
Sarah Braunstein makes writing short stories look easy. The characters are so rich, the details so exact. The language, concise.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My sincere thanks to #netgalley and #wwnorton for the opportunity to read and review this group of INCREDIBLE short stories by Sarah Braunstein. This was my first experience reading her short fiction but I enjoyed her novel - Bad Animals (Feb 2025)- and felt confident that this collection would be a solid request. I can honestly share that I enjoyed every one of the eleven stories - a few were absolutely outstanding - and I saw in the endnotes that a handful were credited as reprints (versions) from journals and prestigious magazines (including a 'Best American Short Stories' 2025 citation).
The stories are broken up into two sections: Part 1/LOST, which contains the first six, and Part 2/Found, the remaining five. A few standouts were previously published but others like Porcupine and The Fox in the Lounge were gripping and powerful as well. Most, if not all, of the stories showcase quirky (a high compliment!) characters in the midst of strange encounters, personal upheaval, major life changes, and happenstance meetings with strangers that change the course of lives. Superstition and Abject Realism expertly utilize objects (a cross and a telescope) as life-changing mechanisms in the lives of others.
I LOVED this collection and I really love Braunstein's writing. The characters, plot lines, settings, and uniquely wild twists and turns (crazy yet plausible) kept me engaged and invested from start to finish. Compelling, singular, and FUNNY (in the most unexpected and endearing ways). For ALL LOVERS of great short fiction you will not be disappointed. Can't wait for whatever is next from this writer. Thank you!
Pub Date 6.9.2026
The stories are broken up into two sections: Part 1/LOST, which contains the first six, and Part 2/Found, the remaining five. A few standouts were previously published but others like Porcupine and The Fox in the Lounge were gripping and powerful as well. Most, if not all, of the stories showcase quirky (a high compliment!) characters in the midst of strange encounters, personal upheaval, major life changes, and happenstance meetings with strangers that change the course of lives. Superstition and Abject Realism expertly utilize objects (a cross and a telescope) as life-changing mechanisms in the lives of others.
I LOVED this collection and I really love Braunstein's writing. The characters, plot lines, settings, and uniquely wild twists and turns (crazy yet plausible) kept me engaged and invested from start to finish. Compelling, singular, and FUNNY (in the most unexpected and endearing ways). For ALL LOVERS of great short fiction you will not be disappointed. Can't wait for whatever is next from this writer. Thank you!
Pub Date 6.9.2026
June 29, 2026
(thank you to the publisher for my copy of this book!)
It takes A LOT for me to get into a book of short stories and I'm happy to say Baby in a Box got me there 100%! These short stories are SO my vibe and have my super excited to check out the author's full-length novels.
Each of the stories is very different, but Sarah Braunstein's voice is pretty distinct and comes across in each of them. I'd call them edgy and witty, but also really down to earth and "easy" to read. The characters are unique and quirky and as someone who is constantly hit by writer's block, I'm in awe of how Braunstein comes up with so many plot and character ideas that just work so well.
One thing that I (and many) often don't love about short stories is that they often leave you wanting more. But somehow, Braunstein manages to write stories that fully suck you in, while also giving you just enough to leave you satisfied by the end.
It's hard for me to pick favorites, but "Porcupine" (about a woman in her 40s who is dating a guy in his 20s and stays with him at his farmhouse in Maine) shook me. "Abject Naturalism" (about a single mother raising a young daughter) made me feel things. And "Superstition" (about a teen boy in the early 2000s who learns you can make money by selling things on eBay).
Overall, this book was a huge hit for me and I recommend it for anyone who wants to read more short stories, but is worried about not being fully satisfied.
It takes A LOT for me to get into a book of short stories and I'm happy to say Baby in a Box got me there 100%! These short stories are SO my vibe and have my super excited to check out the author's full-length novels.
Each of the stories is very different, but Sarah Braunstein's voice is pretty distinct and comes across in each of them. I'd call them edgy and witty, but also really down to earth and "easy" to read. The characters are unique and quirky and as someone who is constantly hit by writer's block, I'm in awe of how Braunstein comes up with so many plot and character ideas that just work so well.
One thing that I (and many) often don't love about short stories is that they often leave you wanting more. But somehow, Braunstein manages to write stories that fully suck you in, while also giving you just enough to leave you satisfied by the end.
It's hard for me to pick favorites, but "Porcupine" (about a woman in her 40s who is dating a guy in his 20s and stays with him at his farmhouse in Maine) shook me. "Abject Naturalism" (about a single mother raising a young daughter) made me feel things. And "Superstition" (about a teen boy in the early 2000s who learns you can make money by selling things on eBay).
Overall, this book was a huge hit for me and I recommend it for anyone who wants to read more short stories, but is worried about not being fully satisfied.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ Baby In A Box by Sarah Braunstein ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
• 3/5 ☆ •
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Baby in a Box didn't work for me. The stories lean into a strange, disjointed tone that never settled into anything I could connect with. The surreal elements felt more confusing than compelling, and the shifts in style made the collection feel uneven from start to finish.
There are moments where the writing sparks with something sharp or intriguing, but they never built into a rhythm that held my attention. I struggled to stay engaged because the emotional core kept slipping out of reach. The ideas are interesting, but the execution left me feeling detached more often than invested.
Even with that, I can appreciate the ambition behind the collection. It takes risks, experiments with form, and refuses to be predictable. It just wasn’t a style that worked for me as a reader, and I found myself wanting a little more cohesion and emotional clarity.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
If you like:
✔️ surreal short fiction
✔️ experimental storytelling
✔️ disorienting narratives
✔️ literary horror vibes
✔️ strange and unsettling ideas
✔️ short collections
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
📅 Pub Day: Jun 09, 2026 🎧
💌 ARC gifted via NetGalley from Highbridge Audio. All opinions are my own.
• 3/5 ☆ •
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Baby in a Box didn't work for me. The stories lean into a strange, disjointed tone that never settled into anything I could connect with. The surreal elements felt more confusing than compelling, and the shifts in style made the collection feel uneven from start to finish.
There are moments where the writing sparks with something sharp or intriguing, but they never built into a rhythm that held my attention. I struggled to stay engaged because the emotional core kept slipping out of reach. The ideas are interesting, but the execution left me feeling detached more often than invested.
Even with that, I can appreciate the ambition behind the collection. It takes risks, experiments with form, and refuses to be predictable. It just wasn’t a style that worked for me as a reader, and I found myself wanting a little more cohesion and emotional clarity.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
If you like:
✔️ surreal short fiction
✔️ experimental storytelling
✔️ disorienting narratives
✔️ literary horror vibes
✔️ strange and unsettling ideas
✔️ short collections
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
📅 Pub Day: Jun 09, 2026 🎧
💌 ARC gifted via NetGalley from Highbridge Audio. All opinions are my own.
June 20, 2026
This collection of 11 short stories is not for infrequent or casual readers -- a lot of what makes the writing good is *how* the author does it 😍 not just what happens in the story. I think you need to have enough literary experience under your belt to recognize and appreciate her craft.
It's striking! The author works in contrasts and unexpected pairings, dropping a surprising detail right where you least expect it. I remember how my eyebrows shot up in one story when a hotel maid enters the scene ... with a baby on the bottom of her cart. Matter-of-fact.
I found about half of the stories truly striking, three confusing, and the rest landed somewhere in the middle. "Porcupine" used literary devices I hadn't encountered before and really held my attention! And "Superstition" hit close to home -- as someone who came of age in the early, unsupervised years of the internet, wrestling with the ethics of a brand new world.
Something of note is that the author ends every story before it feels finished. Uncomfortable, but also a deliberate choice that I think is meant to keep the story going in my own imagination. I never got comfortable with this, but am content to realize it's intentional -- not careless.
A great collection!
It's striking! The author works in contrasts and unexpected pairings, dropping a surprising detail right where you least expect it. I remember how my eyebrows shot up in one story when a hotel maid enters the scene ... with a baby on the bottom of her cart. Matter-of-fact.
I found about half of the stories truly striking, three confusing, and the rest landed somewhere in the middle. "Porcupine" used literary devices I hadn't encountered before and really held my attention! And "Superstition" hit close to home -- as someone who came of age in the early, unsupervised years of the internet, wrestling with the ethics of a brand new world.
Something of note is that the author ends every story before it feels finished. Uncomfortable, but also a deliberate choice that I think is meant to keep the story going in my own imagination. I never got comfortable with this, but am content to realize it's intentional -- not careless.
A great collection!
June 9, 2026
This book was weird and quirky. The only short story I didn't are for was about the one w/ The Atheist. Margo and Jaiden story was the best one to me. I knew it was an interracial couple by the names. The mom, Penny - she was a piece of work. Mom's like that are so weird to me. how do you not want to me a mom but so eager to be a grandma.
However, none of the stories stuck with me outside of that one. The overall writing was nice though!
I would rate #BabyinaBox a solid 2.5. It didnt really work for me, but maybe someone else.
Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC. Happy pub day!
However, none of the stories stuck with me outside of that one. The overall writing was nice though!
I would rate #BabyinaBox a solid 2.5. It didnt really work for me, but maybe someone else.
Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC. Happy pub day!
August 11, 2026
What a strange book. Maybe it’s because it was all just odd short stories but I didn’t understand the two themes of the book “Lost” and “Found.” I couldn’t see how that theme connected to a lot of the stories. A lot of these stories also just ended so abruptly I couldn’t make sense of why they were even put into the book - especially the one about the maid and the cheating husband at the motel, what ever happened with them?! We’ll never know. Maybe this is a me problem but I like to have some sort of idea as to how the story will end, even if it’s not blatantly obvious.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2026
things that happened in my life while reading this book:
- i talked about slayyyter with my internship boss my first day on the job
- i saw my first ever proposal and it was between two men across the street in davis square
- my hair was cut so short it caused someone in my department to say i looked straight
- my most prized mug from los angeles cracked right down the middle
- a guy ghosted me after we kissed in his hallway and i conducted a healing ritual about it to adela’s prima
- i sent a scary text
- i talked about slayyyter with my internship boss my first day on the job
- i saw my first ever proposal and it was between two men across the street in davis square
- my hair was cut so short it caused someone in my department to say i looked straight
- my most prized mug from los angeles cracked right down the middle
- a guy ghosted me after we kissed in his hallway and i conducted a healing ritual about it to adela’s prima
- i sent a scary text
July 14, 2026
I was introduced to the book via Electric Literature which featured "Porcupine". I wanted to read more. I am in awe at the way she creates people that are a step apart (people watching their own lives as through holes in a box) from fully engaging, from fully feeling. The characters were in a state between sad and hopeful, not quite OK but managing without complaining. I liked the first part, stories in LOST better than the second part other than Abject Naturalism.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.25 Stars
Thank you to Sarah Braunstein and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook of this collection stories.
I forgot how much I love short stories until picking this up. For this set of stories I really enjoyed how the endings make you think and if you are wise, you can see, history often repeats itself.
The first few stories were a bit better than the latter but all were great.
Fun read.
Thank you to Sarah Braunstein and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook of this collection stories.
I forgot how much I love short stories until picking this up. For this set of stories I really enjoyed how the endings make you think and if you are wise, you can see, history often repeats itself.
The first few stories were a bit better than the latter but all were great.
Fun read.
July 21, 2026
I love short story collections, especially when they linger long after the final page. Baby in a Box far exceeded that expectation. That being said, I did enjoy some of the stories more than others. A few stories felt meandering to me, but the majority hit it out of the park. Superstition was the standout favorite of the collection for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
August 2, 2026
I loved this book so very much. I feel, as a society, we are sleeping on short story collections. The only one I didn’t love was the last story, “The Parents.”
I truly was bummed when each story ended as I wanted to read more and more of the characters you so quickly got to know in such a short span.
I truly was bummed when each story ended as I wanted to read more and more of the characters you so quickly got to know in such a short span.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
The stories are eclectic and well written. I especially enjoyed the weird overall feel the book has.
May 26, 2026
I enjoyed these brief insights into very disparate people's lives. Many times, the characters were reaching a significant change in their life when the story ended. All of the characters had very authentic voices as well. Some stories broke my heart and others made me laugh. I love Brauntein's deceptively simple prose.
June 15, 2026
A zippy, captivating, and satisfying series of short stories that highlight how we shape and are shaped by all relationships.
June 23, 2026
One of best writers of short stories currently in the game. Masterful collection.
June 29, 2026
I’m typically not a short story reader, but I truly enjoyed every story and wanted more.
Did Not Finish
July 1, 2026I don’t like short stories and I don’t know why I even tried
August 24, 2026
It was easy to ready but sometimes I wanted more and the ending shouldn’t have been so difficult to understand.
September 13, 2026
Some stories were really not bad, some were a hit and some a miss..
June 18, 2026
These stories are well written and feel realistic, while each is unique. They explore vulnerability and the ramifications of our choices.
Did Not Finish
June 23, 2026Not what I expected. Made it past two stories but both ending were too open and the stories weren't that good or interesting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews