Fiction

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1
The Museum of Abandoned Secrets
The Museum of Abandoned Secrets
Oksana Zabuzhko
Spanning more than six decades of Ukrainian history, from the Second World War to the early 2000s, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is an ambitious, multigenerational novel about memory, resistance, and the hidden forces shaping national identity. In contemporary Kyiv, journalist Daryna Hoshchynska discovers an old photograph of Olena Dovhan, a young Ukrainian partisan who was killed by Soviet secret police in 1947 after being betrayed by her lover. Fascinated by Olena’s story, Daryna begins investigating her life, uncovering secrets that connect the wartime resistance to the political realities of modern Ukraine. As her research deepens, personal relationships, family histories, and forgotten traumas become entangled with the country’s turbulent past. Moving between generations and historical periods, Zabuzhko explores Soviet repression, political violence, cultural memory, and the enduring consequences of historical silence. Combining historical fiction, psychological drama, and elements of the supernatural, the novel asks how the past survives within the present—and how recovering buried stories can reshape a nation’s understanding of itself.
Ukraine 2012
2
The Mountain and the Wall
The Mountain and the Wall
Alisa Ganieva
In The Mountain and the Wall, Shamil, a young journalist in Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, hears rumours that the Russian government intends to build a wall separating the Muslim regions of the North Caucasus from the rest of the country. As anxiety and unrest spread, Shamil finds himself confronting the political and religious divisions shaping his community. What begins as distant speculation gradually becomes an urgent personal and social crisis, forcing him to reconsider his own passivity. Ganieva portrays a region caught between competing ideologies, traditional beliefs, and the pressures of modern political life. Through Shamil’s experiences, the novel explores how intolerance and extremism can fracture communities and how ordinary people respond when the society around them begins to unravel.
Russia 2012
3
A Grain of Wheat
A Grain of Wheat
Set in Kenya in the days leading up to independence from British colonial rule, A Grain of Wheat explores the sacrifices, betrayals, and moral compromises behind a nation’s struggle for freedom. The novel centres on Mugo, a quiet villager whom his community regards as a hero because of his suffering during the colonial government’s emergency rule. As the village prepares to celebrate independence, however, hidden truths about the resistance movement begin to emerge. Through interconnected stories of former freedom fighters, their families, and their neighbours, Ngũgĩ examines the lasting consequences of colonial violence and the complicated legacy of resistance. The novel asks what it means to be a hero, how communities remember their past, and whether political independence can bring genuine reconciliation when individuals remain haunted by guilt and betrayal.
Kenya 2012
4
The South
The South
Colm Tóibín
Set in the 1950s, The South follows Katherine Proctor, an Irish Protestant woman who leaves her husband, young son, and home in Ireland to begin a new life in Barcelona. Determined to become a painter, she immerses herself in the city’s artistic community, where she meets Miguel, an anarchist and veteran of the Spanish Civil War. Their relationship leads her to a remote village in the Pyrenees, where she attempts to reconcile her artistic ambitions with her desire for love and independence. However, the past continues to shape her choices, forcing her to confront the complexities of her marriage, family ties, and cultural identity. Through Katherine’s journey, Colm Tóibín explores exile, self-discovery, and the difficult pursuit of personal freedom against the weight of social expectations and historical conflict.
Ireland 2012
5
Salvage the Bones
Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward
Set in rural Mississippi in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, Salvage the Bones follows fifteen-year-old Esch Batiste and her three brothers as they navigate poverty, family tensions, and the looming threat of a devastating storm. Living with their father in a neglected community, the siblings struggle to prepare for the hurricane while confronting their own emotional and personal challenges. Esch, who is pregnant and quietly in love with her brother’s friend, finds parallels between her experiences and the mythological story of Medea. As the storm approaches, the family must rely on one another to survive. Through vivid storytelling and lyrical prose, Jesmyn Ward explores the bonds of family, the resilience of marginalized communities, and the enduring power of love amid hardship. The novel portrays the devastating intersection of poverty, race, and environmental disaster while celebrating the strength of those who endure.
United States 2012
6
The Passion According to G.H.
The Passion According to G.H.
Clarice Lispector
In The Passion According to G.H., a wealthy sculptor in Rio de Janeiro experiences a profound existential crisis after entering her former maid’s room and encountering a cockroach. What begins as an ordinary domestic moment transforms into a disturbing confrontation with her identity, humanity, and understanding of existence. Through an intense stream of consciousness, Clarice Lispector explores the boundaries between self and other, human and animal, and the sacred and the material. As G.H.’s familiar sense of self begins to dissolve, she confronts the unsettling possibility that true understanding requires abandoning the illusions that define human identity. The novel is a challenging philosophical exploration of consciousness, transformation, and the search for meaning beyond conventional beliefs.
Brazil 2012
7
Prisoner Of Heaven
Prisoner Of Heaven
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Barcelona, 1957. At the Sempere & Sons bookshop, Daniel Sempere seems to have finally found happiness. Married to Bea and the father of a young son, he shares his days with his devoted friend Fermín Romero de Torres, who is preparing for his own wedding. But their peaceful life is disrupted when a mysterious stranger enters the shop and purchases a rare, beautifully illustrated edition of The Count of Monte Cristo. Before leaving, he writes a disturbing dedication addressed to Fermín, hinting at a secret buried deep in the past. Daniel soon discovers that his friend’s history is far darker than he imagined. The mystery leads back to the brutal years of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, revealing a story of imprisonment, betrayal, revenge, and survival. As buried memories resurface, Daniel and Fermín must confront the consequences of secrets that could endanger everything they hold dear. The third novel in Zafón’s Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, The Prisoner of Heaven brings together characters and mysteries from The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game. Blending Gothic suspense, historical fiction, and the enduring magic of books, the novel explores how the past refuses to remain buried—and how friendship and loyalty can survive even the darkest chapters of history.
Spain 2011
8
The Loft
The Loft
Marlen Haushofer
In The Loft, an Austrian housewife finds refuge from her monotonous domestic life in an attic where she draws birds, insects and other creatures. Her marriage to Hubert, a dissatisfied lawyer, has settled into emotional distance, while her grown-up children have left home. Although her days appear ordinary, the narrator carries memories of a disturbing episode from twenty years earlier, when a sudden loss of hearing led her husband to send her to a remote cottage to recover. One day, mysterious packages arrive containing extracts from her old diary, forcing her to confront an experience she has tried to forget. As the past intrudes upon her carefully ordered present, the boundaries between memory, repression and self-understanding begin to shift. With quiet psychological intensity, Haushofer examines the loneliness hidden within conventional family life, the constraints placed on women, and the private spaces people create to preserve their individuality. The attic becomes both a sanctuary and a symbol of the narrator’s struggle to understand herself beyond the roles imposed upon her.
Austria 2011
9
Anatomy of a Disappearance
Anatomy of a Disappearance
Hisham Matar
Anatomy of a Disappearance follows Nuri el-Alfi, a young boy whose life is shaped by the mysterious disappearance of his father, Kamal, a wealthy Libyan exile and political dissident. After his mother’s death, Nuri becomes increasingly attached to Mona, his father’s second wife, whom he first encounters as a teenager while travelling with his father in England. When Kamal vanishes without explanation, Nuri is left struggling to understand the man he loved but never fully knew. As he grows older, he searches for clues about his father’s fate, confronting the silences, secrets, and uncertainties that surround his family’s past. Set against the backdrop of political repression and exile, the novel explores the fragile bonds between fathers and sons, the complexities of memory, and the ways absence can shape a person’s identity. Through restrained, lyrical prose, Hisham Matar examines how grief and longing transform our understanding of those we love, revealing how the search for a missing person can also become a search for oneself.
Libya 2011
10
My Brilliant Friend
My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante
My Brilliant Friend follows Elena Greco and Raffaella Cerullo, known as Lila, two intelligent and ambitious girls growing up in a poor neighborhood of Naples in the 1950s. Despite their contrasting personalities, they develop a complex friendship shaped by admiration, rivalry, jealousy, and affection. As they navigate childhood and adolescence, both confront the limitations imposed by poverty, gender expectations, and a society marked by violence and rigid social hierarchies. While Elena continues her education, Lila’s opportunities are increasingly restricted, creating a tension that follows them as their lives take different directions. Through their evolving relationship, Ferrante explores female friendship, ambition, identity, and the transformative power of education. The novel is the first installment of the Neapolitan series, offering an intimate portrait of growing up and discovering oneself in a changing Italy.
Italy 2011
11
Celestial Bodies
Celestial Bodies
Jokha Alharthi
In the Omani village of al-Awafi, three sisters navigate love, marriage, family expectations, and the changing world around them. Mayya marries Abdallah, the son of a wealthy merchant, after experiencing heartbreak. Asma enters marriage out of a sense of duty, while Khawla refuses every suitor, remaining devoted to the man she loves, who has emigrated to Canada. Through the intertwined lives of these women and their extended family, Jokha Alharthi paints a richly layered portrait of Oman across generations. The novel moves between memories, personal histories, and shifting perspectives, gradually revealing how individual lives are shaped by social class, gender roles, and the legacy of slavery. As Oman transitions from a traditional society to a modern nation, its people struggle to reconcile inherited customs with new possibilities. Poetic and intricately structured, Celestial Bodies explores the tension between personal desire and social obligation, showing how love, loss, and family secrets echo across generations. The novel won the 2019 Man Booker International Prize, shared by Alharthi and her translator, Marilyn Booth.
Oman 2010
12
The world in half
The world in half
Cristina Henríquez
The World in Half follows Miraflores, a young woman living in Chicago who discovers that the father she has never known may still be alive in Panama. Determined to uncover the truth about her family’s past, she travels to the country her mother left behind, hoping to understand her own identity and the circumstances surrounding her parents’ relationship. As she explores Panama, Miraflores encounters unfamiliar landscapes, complicated family histories, and unexpected connections that challenge her assumptions about where she belongs. Through her journey, Cristina Henríquez examines the immigrant experience, cultural belonging, and the ways family secrets shape personal identity. The novel explores the emotional distance between generations and the search for a place to call home.
Panama 2010