Brawler

by Lauren Groff

The latest short story collection from the bestselling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies.

Ranging from the 1950s to the present day and moving across age, class, and region - from New England to Florida to California - these nine stories reflect and expand upon a single shared theme: the ceaseless battle between the dark and light in all of us.

Among those caught in this match are a young woman suddenly responsible for her disabled sibling; a hot-tempered high school swimmer in need of an adult; a mother blinded by the loss of her family; and a banking scion endowed with a different kind of inheritance. Motivated by love, impeded by human fallibility, they try to do the right thing for as long as they can.

Precise, surprising and provocative, anchored by profound insight into human nature, Brawler reveals the repeated fracture points between love and fear, compassion and violence, reason and instinct, altruism and survival. It is a timeless, stunning achievement from one of the very best short story writers working today.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Audiobook, Literature

275 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2026

About the author

Lauren Groff was born in Cooperstown, N.Y. and grew up one block from the Baseball Hall of Fame. She graduated from Amherst College and has an MFA in fiction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in a number of journals, including The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, Hobart, and Five Points as well as in the anthologies Best American Short Stories 2007, Pushcart Prize XXXII, and Best New American Voices 2008.

She was awarded the Axton Fellowship in Fiction at the University of Louisville, and has had residencies and fellowships at Yaddo and the Vermont Studio Center.

She lives in Gainesville, Florida, with her husband, Clay, and her dog, Cooper.

Reviews

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've been following me for a while, then you know my love for Lauren Groff is nothing new. Lauren is truly one of the greatest writers in modern times and her works are masterpieces.

Her works always make their way onto my top reads of the year list so needless to say Brawler was my most anticipated read of 2026.

I just loved this collection and even though I enjoyed all the stories, my absolute favorites were:
- The Wind
- To Sunland
- Under the Wave
- Annunciation

After finishing the novel, I listened to the audiobook which the author reads. Lauren did an amazing job narrating and bringing these stories to life. If you decide to pick this one up, I highly recommend this format!

Brawler by Lauren Groff was published on February 24 so it’s available now. Many thanks to Penguin Random House Audio and Riverhead Books for the gifted copies!

[Claire Fuller]

Nine great stories in this third collection from Lauren Groff - with a long almost novella sized one in the middle (What's the Time Mr Wolf) which was probably my favourite. But there were lots of others to love too: To Sunland where siblings have recently lost their mother and the daughter is taking the son to live in a home, and Brawler about a girl who dives and cares for her mother. It's hard to find a linked theme (and that's the joy for me of this collection), but perhaps what goes on beneath the surface of families. My husband and I read them to each other.
Thanks to Penguin for this proof.

[Maxwell]

I’ve read 2 of Groff’s novels before and enjoyed them both immensely. She has a very particular way with words that I resonate with, and I’m happy, but not surprised, to say that that is just as true in her short fiction! These 9 stories were all powerful, memorable, and beautifully written.

Many of them deal with the intense range of human emotion, especially resiliency, and how women often have to fight to hold onto scraps of power and use that to gain some agency in their lives.

My favorites were “Annunciation,” “Brawler,” “Birdie,” “Between the Shadow and the Soul,” and “Such Small Islands” – but honestly there wasn’t a single story I disliked.

Thanks to Riverhead for sending me a copy of this a bit early! I am excited for more people to pick this up and read it when it’s out in a few weeks.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Shelf Awareness review: The nine short stories in Lauren Groff's exceptional eighth book profile women in states of desperation and probe legacies of loss and violence.

Most of the stories employ third-person narration and originally appeared in the New Yorker. Often, inherited trauma binds mothers and daughters. The title character is high school swimmer Sara, who shoplifts and fights in frustration at her mother's incurable illness. In "Under the Wave," set after a natural disaster, a woman adopts an orphan as a replacement for her dead child--despite their racial differences. The title of "The Wind" symbolizes women's fear and rage after an attempted escape from an abusive patriarch. Accidental harm and imagery of the Madonna and Child link the three mother-daughter pairs in "Annunciation."

Themes of midlife reinvention and latent queerness (cf. Matrix) recur. Bisexuality is a secret between a dying woman and her friend in "Birdie." In "Between the Shadow and the Soul," a woman finds new hobbies following early retirement. Although she flirts with her female gardening teacher, she realizes her desire is not to leave her husband but to "brush up against the dazzling future again."

"Such Small Islands" is a startling Jamesian fable; "To Sunland" a 1950s Southern gothic black comedy that would do Flannery O'Connor proud; and the masterful "What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?" a suspenseful, novella-length examination of privilege and obsession.

The prose is stellar and the endings breathtaking. Groff is a first-rate novelist, but her short stories are truly peerless.

(Posted with permission from Shelf Awareness.)

[Liz Hein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody needs me to tell them Lauren Groff is good with words, but…y’all, Brawler is SO GOOD. I hadn’t read these stories before, and they’re all singularly wonderful. Together, they feel like we got removed from where we are and placed under Groff’s skin as she swims as a means to write. One of the greatest gifts of this book comes at the very end: Groff gives us what she was feeling or thinking about while writing each story. Not what they’re about, but what lives in her that necessitated that story being written.

Short story collections can be difficult to talk about as a whole, but if I had to boil this down, I would say these stories are about crossroads. Very Large or deceptively small moments in lives where everything changes for one reason or another. My favorites were The Wind, Between the Shadow and the Soul, To Sunland, Brawler, and Annunciation. I dare you to read this and not have to choose over half the stories as favorites 🤣

[Aly Lauck · Rating 5 out of 5]

She rarely misses. Enjoyed the short stories immensely! Great writer, stunning storytelling.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely don't know how Lauren Groff does it--how each of her books are so different from each other, yet she still never misses.

The age-old advice is to write what you know, and, looking at Groff's notes at the end of Brawler, it appears many of the stories in this collection originated from one small idea taken from her life. She takes those tidbits and fashions a whole world around them in a few short paragraphs. Yes, that's what writers do, but I've read so many authors who repeat themselves in their work. Every protagonist is a writer or every story takes place in the same small town or every conflict is caused by a crotchety old man who is set in his ways. Every story of Groff's, however, is wholly original.

A throughline in this collection seems to be violence against women--specifically violence perpetrated by a man, often in domestic situations. We see a mother taking her children and fleeing from an abusive husband, another mother living with her daughter in a van so they can always stay one step ahead of the man that almost killed her, and a man who stalks his ex-lover in increasingly intrusive and violent ways.

Following that pattern, you'd expect the titular Brawler to be male, but she's female--a teen diver who is essentially raising herself and her hypochondriac mother. In passing, it's mentioned that she abandons swimming for diving after too many instances of brushing the crotches of her male teammates in the pool. "Most of the boys hadn't complained, some had even slowed down as they passed, but it took only one whiner, and then she was forced to switch to diving," Groff writes.

I found it interesting that the one story without an abusive male figure in fact contains a sexually abusive *female* figure, and Groff names the book after her. I look forward to when the book comes out to see what reviewers make of this and if Groff is asked about it in any interviews. That's the disadvantage of reading a book before its release--you want to talk about it but you're forced to remain patient.

[Kristi Hovington · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are very few people for whom I'd read a short story collection; Groff is one of them. This book is stunning from start to finish. Also? surprisingly queer, which was a delightful surprise. I don't know how she made me feel so many emotions in stories that are mostly under 20 pages; I think this is better than Florida, her other collection, and I gave that one 5 stars, too. I literally gasped at the end of some of them, some because I was surprised, some because I was moved; I think this is the best book i've read this year.

[Book Riot Community]

Book Riot’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026:

All I need to know about Lauren Groff's new short story collection is that it's a collection of short stories by Lauren Groff. Always a sharp observer of human nature and often a cutting one, Groff has become one of the most exciting writers working today. Whether she's dissecting a complicated marriage while exploring the mysteries of perspective or walking right up to the edge of the mystical in a 13th-century convent, she finds a way to speak to the present moment by saying something timeless and deeply original. I don't know what will happen in these short stories, but I know what they will be about: humanity in all its messy, fascinating wonder. —Rebecca Joines Schinsky

[Kim B · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of these stories, for the most part, blew me away. But I have to specifically point out the final one, Annunciation. It was stunning and one of the most beautiful short stories I’ve ever read. I also loved the section “author’s note on the stories” at the end of the book where Groff has written a short paragraph related to each story, so don’t miss that section if you read these short stories!

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There wasn't a bad one in the bunch, but these are not happy and uplifting stories. They are sometimes disturbing and most leave you feeling unsettled. They are stories of abuse, abandonment, neglect but at the end of each story many were about women finding themselves or coming to a reckoning of their pasts to their presents. My favourites were 'The Wind', 'Birdie' (definite favourite, very relatable) and 'Annunciation.'

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,4*
Nejaugi būsiu persirgusi Groff (apsakymais)? Ehhhh... Bet visgi manau, kad Floridai šis rinkinys nė iš tolo neprilygsta.

[Troy]

Another amazing collection from one of our greatest living writers. The brilliance and complexity of these characters and stories unfurl with complete radiance. Groff is an exceptional short story writer and really gets you to think about the characters, their predicaments, their lives. Everything she writes feels real and true to life. She covers a lot of ground in this collection, moving through different historical periods to our modern era, but always manages to convey her protagonists at the apex of something profound happening in their lives, a moment of no return. Groff is a wonder.

Advanced digital galley provided by Riverhead/Netgalley, exp. pub date: Feb 24, 2026

[Rendezvouswithbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lauren Groff for me is one of the finest explorers of landscapes. The finnese & subtle differences in her work comes from the facts that the landscapes that she is painting are either
Primal ( Vaster Wilds), Social ( Matrix) or
Psychological ( Fates &Furies)

Brawler for me stood out as an amalgamation of all these 3 & what a fine one at that

It's a rare occasion when the build up of each story completely grasps your attention & that ending renders out an audible gasp

I absolutely loved each one of these 9 stories, many of which have been published in NYT over a period

As a mother though 'Under the waves' will always stay close to my heart. While - The Wind, What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf? & Annunciation will stay etched in my mind forever

The Wind - Fierce - A propulsive story about a mother's efforts to escape from a life of domestic violence

Between the Shadow and the Soul - Midlife crisis - Focuses on the stirring desires of middle age

To Sunland - Gritty - Young Joanie navigates through misogyny of her small town while taking hard decisions for her disabled brother

Brawler - Transcendent - Captures the animalistic survival instincts of high school swimmer, Sara as she navigates thru her mother's illness

Birdie - Cathartic - A group of friends confront their darkest shared secrets

What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf? - Haunting - You have to read it to find out that ending

Under the Wave - Nurtural - The beautiful ways in which a mother finds closure

Such Small Islands - Formative - Examines the complexities of childhood

Annunciation - Layered - A powerful coming of age story centered on a woman finding her own path

Groff's writing is very evocative, cinematic with vivid description of flora and fauna with delectable prose

The range of themes this collection explores from domestic violence, masculinity, grief, power, privilege makes this is a top notch one

It's a must read
Thank you @penguinrandomhouse for the review copy

[victoria marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

with a blend of literary craft & raw feeling, this brilliant collection contains narratives that are layered, dark & reflective, & unsettling… lingering long after turning the page.

these stories repeatedly pit love against fear, compassion against violence, & instinct against reason… with emotional intensity, recurring themes of heartbreak & characters wrestling with inner angels/demons…

&, the audiobook was great, but someday hope to get this in print (plus read her collection Florida)!

recommend. first story collection published in 2026 that I’ve enjoyed this much.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Stephanie Lackey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating, haunting, gorgeous. Lauren Groff is a master. I just love her so much. Best thing I’ve read in a while.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

lauren groff does it like no other. "to sunland" is devastating and "what’s the time, mr wolf?" is an all-timer, very reminiscent of the bee sting

[Juliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I look around and can see it in so many other women, passed down from a time beyond history, this wind that is dark and ceaseless and raging within.” Lauren Groff’s eighth book and third short story collection, Brawler, offers up her most accomplished work to date, nine stories that serve as electric, often enigmatic character studies, laced with the legacies of violence, grief, forgiveness, rage. Women are faced with the unthinkable, from a young mother traumatised by disaster in ‘Under the Wave’, to the sister unable to care for her brother in ‘To Sunland’; the wife in ‘Between the Shadow and the Soul’ facing “sorrow and rage, and a kind of mad, obstinate joy” after she retires, to the fiery young diver struggling to look after her mother in ‘Brawler’, and the young girl, “just a little nothing beside the grasping, hissing ocean”, whose sense of abandonment leads her to an act of evil in ‘Such Small Islands’. Meanwhile, ‘Birdie’ opens on a dying woman whose friends are discussing the worst things they’ve ever done; the story zigs and zags so well and delivers such a great emotional sucker punch towards the end. The longest story is the centrepiece, ‘What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?’, which follows a waspy family collapsing at a dramatic Independence Day dinner, and how its youngest member, Chip, growing up in “the family’s syntax of silence” (a perfect phrase from Groff), is not protected by his privilege, all building to a grimly opaque ending. The stories are haunting, not least opener ‘The Wind’, which is breathlessly told, a harrowing, tight portrait of generational trauma. With mesmerising closer ‘Annunciation’, it bookends the collection as stories in which mothers tell stories, either passing them down or passing them on, familial legacies stifled. It ends where it begins, a lingering image of women who cannot forget the cruelties of a world built against them, but find beauty regardless: reading it is emotionally taxing but also clearing, cleansing. Story to story, sentence to sentence, there’s no one like Groff.

[John Caleb Grenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

BRAWLER
Lauren Groff
Thank you @riverheadbooks for the ARC and @prhaudio for the ALC

Lauren Groff can WRITE A SHORT STORY NOW. This book is Good, capital G. She hits all the emotional highs and lows a reader could ask for, creates tension with precision, and does this wonderful thing with the light and the dark sides of the soul I really appreciate—all the glimpses of something dark in the shadows, the vast black depths her characters sense just out of sight. I love that.

There are some stories here that blow it all the way out of the water for me. Mostly, the book opened up terribly strong, one, two, three, and ends on a perfect note. I LOVED “Between the Shadow and the Soul” and “Annunciation.” Only in the middle did I sense a little drag and find two I did not care for (“Under the Wave” missed for me), but there’s still, of course, a strength and a clarity of expression you can always expect from Groff.

As a punk, I could quibble about a word choice here and there that took the breath out of some of her otherwise LUSH sentences, but no one really cares; they are few and far between.

A thought I had: “FLORIDA” really summed up that entire book for me. Here, I kept having to really stretch to make these majority-previously-published stories all cohere in a way that made the entire book as strong as I expected. Did they fit under its title as some sort of umbrella or run along the thread of “Brawler?” Maybe. We apparently aren’t allowed to discuss authors’ new works in light of their previous award-nods and winners, though, so I guess scrap that!

Pretty weak and unnecessary criticism there, anyway. If you’re looking for a very good book to read, this is one of ‘em.

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

Brawler is the third short story collection from Lauren Groff. I’ve read every collection in addition to three of her novels and enjoyed them all. In a sea of writers, there’s something distinctly unique in Groff’s writing that I always look forward to reading.

Brawler consists of nine short stories along with a brief explanation for each. The audiobook is lovingly narrated by Groff herself. I enjoyed every single story in this collection but several stood out more powerfully and the are:

“Between the Shadow and the Soul”
“Birdie”
“What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?”
“Annunciation”

[kendra]

dnf ~ 20%

idk. i quite liked the first story "the wind" but the second one bored me so deeply that i lost all interest in opening the book again. maybe i'll pick it up again at another time or maybe i just don't fw short story collections. time will tell.

[Natalie Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Gorgeous as always. Lauren Groff cannot write things I don’t love. Half of the stories were 5 stars for me: beautiful from start to finish. I lingered on lines that pummeled me. Two of the stories made me weep. The other half were also great but didn’t hit me as hard - probably because they didn’t relate as closely to my own personal troubles. My least favorite story was the one in the middle that was 80 pages. It was great but too long to be considered a short story, in my opinion. To sum up: Love her. Will always love her. Shower me in Lauren Groff’s words for eternity. Too much? 😂

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong 4 stars for Groff's latest short story collected. They're all good, and most great, without any duds in the bunch. The last two times I've read a SS collection from her I've had a new all-time favorite short story-- sadly nothing was at that level for me here. But her great writing was on display and I enjoyed this!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes it is another perfect compilation of short stories by Lauren Groff, in case you were wondering.

[Rodrigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

literally No Skips. All bangers. Lauren Groff is the short story GOAT. I'm tingling

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.bookpage.com/books/brawler/

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brawler is everything we love and expect from Lauren Groff. God-tier writing that tackles difficult subject matter yet is still palatable. The only story I had trouble connecting with was “What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?” Otherwise, loved it.

[Autumn Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

magnificent.

[Tell]

review coming tm!