Fiction

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Vanishing Maps

Cristina García

Vanishing Maps returns to the García family, whose history of exile, migration, and political upheaval was introduced in Dreaming in Cuban. Moving between Cuba and the United States, the novel follows members of a family whose lives have been shaped by displacement, fractured relationships, and the complicated legacy of revolution. As the characters navigate different generations and cultural environments, they confront the question of what it means to belong to a country that may exist more vividly in memory than in everyday life. García explores the ways family histories are inherited, reinterpreted, and sometimes deliberately forgotten. Blending personal drama with the wider history of the Cuban diaspora, the novel examines how migration reshapes identity and how the search for home can continue long after a person has physically left it.

Western Lane

Eleven-year-old Gopi lives in England with her father and two older sisters following the death of her mother. Struggling to express their grief, the family turns to squash, and Gopi gradually becomes consumed by the sport. The discipline of training provides structure and a way to connect with her father, but it also distances her from her sisters. As Gopi develops into a talented player, she discovers how competition, repetition, and physical movement can express emotions that words cannot. Maroo’s restrained prose captures the quiet complexities of family relationships, the isolation of grief, and the experience of growing up within a Gujarati immigrant family. Western Lane is a moving exploration of how people mourn differently and how shared routines can become a language of love and survival.

United Kingdom 2023

Colony

In The Colony, Emelie, exhausted by her demanding urban life, escapes to the Swedish countryside, where she encounters a mysterious group of seven people living together outside conventional society. Each member carries personal wounds, disappointments, or a desire to escape the expectations of the modern world. Their unusual community offers the possibility of a different way of living, built around shared responsibilities and distance from mainstream life. Yet as Emelie becomes more involved, the boundaries between freedom, belonging, and dependence grow increasingly complicated. Norlin examines the human longing for connection and the temptation to create an alternative society when existing structures feel unbearable. The novel asks whether a community can truly escape the inequalities and conflicts of the world it leaves behind.

Dictator Calls

A Dictator Calls explores the relationship between literature and political power through a fictionalised account of the Soviet writer Boris Pasternak and his interactions with Joseph Stalin. After Pasternak receives an unexpected telephone call from the Soviet dictator, the episode becomes a defining moment in his life, exposing the dangerous uncertainty faced by writers under authoritarian rule. Kadare examines how a seemingly brief conversation can reveal the enormous imbalance between an artist and a political leader whose decisions can determine a person’s survival. Blending historical detail with literary reflection, the novel considers the compromises writers make to continue working under censorship and the ways political authority attempts to control artistic expression. Kadare also reflects on the complicated relationship between writers and the regimes that both suppress and exploit them. The book examines fear, conscience, and the enduring struggle to preserve intellectual freedom under dictatorship.

Perfumist of Paris

Perfumist of Paris

The Perfumist of Paris follows Radha, the younger sister introduced in The Henna Artist, as she builds a career in the world of perfumery in 1970s Paris. Having developed her talent for creating fragrances, Radha works to establish herself professionally while navigating marriage, motherhood, and the expectations placed upon her as an Indian woman living abroad. Her ambition to become an accomplished perfumer requires her to make difficult choices about the balance between her professional aspirations and her responsibilities to her family. As she encounters new opportunities and challenges, Radha must confront questions about independence, belonging, and the kind of future she wants to create. Joshi explores the relationship between creativity and self-expression, using the evocative world of perfume to examine memory, cultural heritage, and the complex process of developing an identity that embraces both personal ambition and family ties.

By the Sea

Abdulrazak Gurnah

By the Sea follows Saleh Omar, an elderly man from Zanzibar who arrives in England seeking asylum, carrying little more than a small suitcase and a box of fragrant incense. Unable or unwilling to explain his past fully, he becomes entangled in a complex history of family conflict, political upheaval, and personal betrayal. His story gradually intersects with that of Latif Mahmud, another Tanzanian exile whose family history is closely connected to Saleh’s own. As the two men confront their shared past, the novel explores displacement, memory, and the uncertain meaning of belonging. Through their conflicting recollections, Gurnah reveals how personal narratives are shaped by loss and resentment, while examining the emotional and cultural challenges faced by those forced to rebuild their lives far from home.

Apple in the Dark

Apple in the Dark

Clarice Lispector

The Apple in the Dark follows Martim, a man who flees his home after believing he has committed a terrible act against his wife. Seeking refuge in the Brazilian countryside, he finds work on a remote farm owned by two women, Vitória and Ermelinda. Away from the structures of his former life, Martim begins to experience the world as if he were discovering it for the first time. His escape becomes a profound journey into the nature of consciousness, language, morality, and personal identity. Through introspective prose and philosophical reflections, Clarice Lispector explores what remains of a person when familiar social roles and established beliefs fall away. Rather than offering a conventional narrative of guilt and redemption, the novel examines the unsettling possibility of creating oneself anew. It is a deeply existential work about freedom, responsibility, and the struggle to understand what it means to be human.

Seven Empty Houses

Seven Empty Houses

Samanta Schweblin

The seven houses in these seven stories are strange. A person is missing, or a truth, or memory; some rooms are enticing, some unmoored, others empty. But in Samanta Schweblin's tense, visionary tales, something always creeps back inside: a ghost, a fight, trespassers, a list of things to do before you die, a child's first encounter with darkness or the fallibility of parents. In each story, twists and turns will unnerve and surprise: Schweblin never takes the expected path and instead digs under the skin, revealing surreal truths about our sense of home, of belonging, and of the fragility of our connections with others. This is a masterwork from one of our most brilliant modern writers.

Loot

A stolen tiger, a young craftsman, and the spoils of an empire collide in this imaginative historical adventure. In eighteenth-century Mysore, seventeen-year-old Abbas catches the attention of Tipu Sultan, who commissions him to help create an extraordinary mechanical tiger. But when British forces invade the palace, the magnificent automaton is carried away as war booty. Years later, Abbas travels to Europe, determined to recover his creation and reclaim a piece of the world stolen from him. Spanning India, France, and England, Loot combines romance, adventure, and ingenious storytelling to explore artistic ambition, the costs of empire, and the enduring question of who has the right to own another culture’s treasures.

Tehrangeles

Porochista Khakpour

The Milanis have everything money can buy: a sprawling Los Angeles mansion, a successful frozen-food empire, and four daughters ready for their close-up. When the wealthy Iranian American family lands a reality television deal, each sister sees an opportunity to claim the spotlight. Violet, an aspiring model, longs for love and acceptance; Roxanna, an ambitious influencer, thrives on attention; Mina, a sharp-witted overachiever, guards secrets of her own; and teenage Haylee dreams of becoming a wellness sensation. Their parents, Ali and Homa, have secrets they would rather keep hidden, too. But just as the cameras prepare to roll, political tensions, family revelations, and the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to unravel their carefully curated lives. With biting humour and unexpected tenderness, Tehrangeles satirises celebrity culture, social media, and the pursuit of the American dream while exploring the complicated realities of growing up Iranian American. Beneath the glitter and extravagance lies a story about family, identity, and the difference between being seen and being truly understood.

Yassini Girls

Shereen Malherbe

In the ancient streets of Jerusalem, Fatima receives an unexpected phone call that awakens memories she has spent years trying to bury. Thousands of miles away in the English countryside, Layla discovers a family heirloom hidden beneath her attic floor, setting her on a journey into the painful, long-silenced history of Palestine. As the two women’s stories begin to converge, family secrets reveal the enduring consequences of displacement and the fragile threads connecting generations to their homeland. Inspired by the author’s own discovery of her family’s history during a BBC documentary, Yassini Girls is a deeply personal novel about Palestinian identity, inherited trauma, and the power of storytelling to preserve what history threatens to erase. Through the traditions, memories, and resilience of Palestinian women, it explores how understanding the past can become an act of resistance and a way of safeguarding the future.

Land of No Regrets

Land of No Regrets

At an Islamic boarding school in rural Ontario, four teenage boys navigate the boundaries between faith, friendship, and freedom. When they stumble upon the diary of a girl who attended the school decades earlier, her words awaken new possibilities and inspire a daring plan to escape. As their secret grows, each boy must confront his own beliefs, desires, and fears about the world beyond the school gates. Blending humour with tenderness, Land of No Regrets explores the challenges of growing up between tradition and independence, asking what it means to belong to a community while finding the courage to forge your own path.

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