THE PEOPLE WHO REPORT MORE STRESS is a collection of connected stories about a man named Eduardo—a deeply introspective, class-jumping, gay, Latinx, public health advocate in gentrified Brooklyn. Dealing with issues around parenting, systemic and interpersonal racism, and class conflict, these stories speak to what many American readers are grappling with right now.

“I see Varela’s writing as a modern, urban entry in the tradition of works like John Cheever’s The Stories of John Cheever or Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love—a tradition kept alive by writers like Teju Cole in Every Day is for the Thief and Jamel Brinkley in A Lucky Man.”—Danny Vazquez, acquiring editor at Astra House