Tomorrow We Will Do Beautiful Things and Other Stories

Tomorrow We Will Do Beautiful Things comes from a legendary quote from Antoni Gaudí, a variation on his final words to his assistant as he went home for the evening, intending to continue their work the next day on Sagrada Familia, the 100-year project of a surreal contemporary Gothic cathedral in Barcelona. That evening, he was hit by a tram. The hope, the dread, the irony, and the incredible beauty (have you ever stood in the stained glass of Sagrada Familia? If not, get there ASAP!) of this vision are part of the themes that build the fabric of this debut collection of short stories by Leah Rogin. is a 16-story collection that traverses the globe, offering an immersive journey through vivid international locales: A disgruntled Icelandic exchange student stuck in Minnesota; an Olympic hopeful ski racer smoking cigarettes in an after-hours trattoria in the Dolomites; a college student trying to escape addiction on the Great Wall of China; a woman-of-a-certain-age challenging herself on a topless beach in Spain. The collection closes in 2020, as a young medical resident tries to leave the country while borders and flights close down in the wake of the global pandemic. Narrators span ages and backgrounds, while exploring the intricacies of place, home, travel, friendship, identity, bodies, loneliness, and loss. This collection offers a fresh perspective on both the privilege and the underbelly of travelling, the dangers of borders and the freedom of passports, the specific hazards of traveling while female, and the larger connection of living in a world that is still beautiful, for now.