An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.

"Breathers", by Adam Gopnik; "Shaggy-Dog Story", by Kate Julian; "Kosher Takeout", by Patricia Marx; "Kosher Takeout", by Patricia Marx; "Lives of the Saints", by Jonathan Harr; and "Doing It", by Ariel Levy