Longlisted for the Center For Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize

Absolutely gorgeous. Taut as a thriller, lovely as a watercolor.Jennifer Croft

Deft and insightful. . . . exceptional.Idra Novey

In present-day New York City, an Albanian interpreter reluctantly agrees to work with Alfred, a Kosovar torture survivor, during his therapy sessions. Despite her husbands cautions, she soon becomes entangled in her clients struggles: Alfreds nightmares stir up her own buried memories, and an impulsive attempt to help a Kurdish poet leads to a risky encounter and a reckless plan.

As ill-fated decisions stack up, jeopardizing the nameless narrators marriage and mental health, she takes a spontaneous trip to reunite with her mother in Albania, where her life in the United States is put into stark relief. When she returns to face the consequences of her actions, she must question what is real and what is not. Ruminative and propulsive, Ledia Xhogas debut novel, Misinterpretation, interrogates the darker legacies of family and country, and the boundary between compassion and self-preservation.