Back

Back is the story of Charlie Summer, who is back from the war and a POW camp having lost the woman he loved, Rose, to illness before he left and his leg to fighting. In other words, Charlie has very little to come back to, only memories, and on top of that he has been deeply traumatized by his experience of war. Rose's father introduces him to another young woman, Nancy, and Charlie becomes convinced that she is in fact Rose and pursues her.Back is at once a Shakespearean comedy of mistaken identities, a voyage into the world of madness, and a celebration of the improbable healing powers of love.

Henry Green (1905–1973) was the pen name of Henry Vincent Yorke. Born near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, England, he was educated at Eton and Oxford before working in his family’s engineering firm for most of his life while also writing novels. During World War II Green served on the London Fire Brigade. He wrote nine novels between 1926 and 1952, includingCaught and Back, which NYRB Classics will also reissue in Fall 2016. In future seasons, NYRB will publish an additional six novels by Green.

Deborah Eisenberg is the author of four collections of short stories and a play,Pastorale. She is the winner of the 2000 Rea Award for the Short Story, a Whiting Writers' Award, a Lannan Foundation Fellowship, and five O. Henry Awards.The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg won the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award. She lives in New York City.