Throughout Proust’s life, nine of his short stories remained unseen – the writer never even spoke of them. Perhaps he was not ready to share the early themes he was nurturing for his masterpiece, . Or perhaps, in dealing directly with gay desire, they were too audacious – too near to life – for the censorious society of the time. In these stories, published in English for the first time, we find an intimate portrait of a young author full of darkness, complexity and melancholy, longing to reveal himself to the world.