Joseph Rein’s Roads without Houses is a stunning debut, filled with stories that broke my heart and opened my mind. With elegant prose and unforgettable imagery, Rein brings to life characters who vibrate with the raw truth of human experience. These unforgettable stories showcase Rein's remarkable talent and push the bounds of narrative convention, expanding our sense of what’s possible on the page and in the world.

—Valerie Laken, author of Dream House

This is a collection of short fiction, but every word of it rings absolutely true. In these exactingly wrought stories are real people facing real challenges in pursuit of real dreams—all crafted by an author of very real talent.

—Liam Callanan, author of Paris by the Book

Joseph Rein’s stories carry the reader behind the closed doors of the human heart, into the chambers that hold the secret pain, sorrow and longing each of us yearns to share, yet hide. Reminiscent of Charles Baxter and Alice Munro, Rein is a terrifically wise writer who speaks with compassion and understanding for the small crimes and mistakes that are the hallmarks of our lives. This is a book for our time, when we are most in need of empathy and the grace that comes from opening ourselves, as these stories ask us to do.

—Jonis Agee, author of The Bones of Paradise

About the author

Joseph Rein’s short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in over twenty journals and anthologies worldwide. He is also an accomplished screenwriter and critical essayist. He lives in River Falls, Wisconsin, with his wife and four children.