Historical Fiction

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Dust Child

Que Mai Phan Nguyen

Dust Child follows several characters whose lives were shaped by the Vietnam War and its long aftermath. In 1969, young Trang and her sister leave their rural village for Saigon, hoping to earn money for their struggling family. There, Trang becomes involved with an American serviceman, an encounter that changes the course of her life. Decades later, Phong, a Vietnamese man born to a Vietnamese mother and an African American father, searches for a way to leave Vietnam with his family. Meanwhile, an American veteran returns to the country he once fought in, hoping to confront his memories and make amends. As their stories intersect, the novel examines the lasting effects of war on families, particularly those who were marginalised or abandoned. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai explores identity, parenthood, prejudice, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.

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.

Desertion

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Spanning several decades in East Africa, Desertion examines love, social divisions, and the enduring consequences of colonialism. The story begins in the late nineteenth century, when an English traveller, Martin Pearce, falls ill in a small coastal town and is cared for by Rehana, a local woman whose own life has been marked by abandonment. Their relationship challenges the racial and cultural boundaries of the colonial society in which they live. Generations later, their descendants continue to grapple with the complicated legacy of this relationship and the secrets surrounding their family history. Moving between different periods and perspectives, Gurnah explores how private choices become entangled with larger historical forces, revealing the lasting influence of prejudice, memory, and inherited expectations.

Afterlives

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Set in German-occupied East Africa during the early twentieth century, Afterlives follows several characters whose lives are shaped by colonialism, war, and the struggle for independence. When young Ilyas returns to his village after being taken away by German colonial forces, he discovers that his family has been torn apart. His sister Afiya faces hardship and neglect before finding a new home, while Hamza, a former soldier in the German colonial army, attempts to build a peaceful life after experiencing the brutality of war. As their stories gradually intersect, Gurnah explores the lasting consequences of colonial violence and the ways historical trauma shapes individuals and communities across generations.

Tomorrow I Become a Woman

Tomorrow I Become a Woman

Aiwanose Odafen

Tomorrow I Become a Woman follows three Nigerian women whose lives are shaped by the expectations, traditions, and social pressures surrounding womanhood. Set in contemporary Nigeria, the novel explores the tensions between personal freedom and cultural obligations, particularly in a society where women’s choices about marriage, education, sexuality, and independence are often constrained by family and community expectations. Through the experiences of its female characters, Aiwanose Odafen examines how women navigate relationships, confront unequal power structures, and struggle to define themselves on their own terms. The novel also explores the influence of religion, tradition, and social class on women’s lives, revealing the emotional costs of conforming to expectations that may conflict with their own desires. With an intimate focus on female friendship, resilience, and self-discovery, Tomorrow I Become a Woman asks what it means to become a woman in a world that has already decided what womanhood should look like.

Trespasses

In 1970s Northern Ireland, as the Troubles bring violence and fear to everyday life, Cushla Lavery tries to build a future beyond the narrow confines of her small Catholic community. She teaches young children at a parochial school and helps run her family’s pub, all while caring for her troubled mother. One evening, she meets Michael Agnew, an older, married Protestant barrister known for defending IRA members. Despite the religious divisions and social dangers surrounding them, Cushla begins a passionate affair with him. But their private relationship unfolds against a landscape where loyalties are fiercely policed and even the smallest actions can have devastating consequences. When a young pupil’s father is brutally attacked, Cushla becomes caught in a chain of events that threatens the people she loves. Tender and unflinching, Trespasses explores forbidden love, sectarian hatred, and the impossible choices faced by ordinary people living through extraordinary violence.

United Kingdom 2022

The Last Apartment in Istanbul

The Last Apartment in Istanbul

Pericles Drakos has lived his entire seventy-five years in Istanbul’s elegant Circle Building, watching the city transform around him. Once home to a thriving, multicultural community, his neighbourhood has gradually changed, its old inhabitants pushed aside by political tensions and gentrification. When the COVID-19 pandemic deepens his isolation, Pericles finds an unexpected connection with Leyla, a younger woman who moves into the building and happens to be a writer. Drawn to Leyla, Pericles begins writing down the story of his life—not the version others remember, but the complicated truth of the man he once was. Through memories of love, jealousy, betrayal, and loss, he revisits the experiences of a Greek man living in Turkey, where political oppression and hostility have shaped both his personal history and his sense of belonging. Spanning decades of Istanbul’s turbulent history, The Last Apartment in Istanbul is a poignant exploration of memory, identity, and the fragile coexistence of different communities. Defne Suman brings to life a city where private lives are inseparable from public history, asking what remains of a person when the world they knew disappears.

Türkiye Greece 2022

Djinns

Every family has its secrets. Some are buried so deeply that they shape generations before anyone dares to speak them aloud. After working in Germany for thirty years, Hüseyin Yılmaz finally fulfils his dream of buying an apartment in Istanbul, hoping to spend his retirement in his homeland. But on the very day he moves in, he dies of a heart attack. His wife, Emine, and their four children travel from Germany to Turkey for his funeral, bringing with them years of resentment, unspoken grief, and unresolved questions. As the story unfolds through the perspectives of each family member, a complicated portrait emerges of a Turkish-Kurdish family navigating life between cultures. A son struggles to understand his sexuality, a daughter wrestles with conflicting identities, and a mother carries painful memories she has never shared. Beneath their everyday conflicts lie deeper wounds shaped by migration, racism, and the expectations of family. With psychological depth and haunting symbolism, Fatma Aydemir explores the invisible forces that haunt us: inherited trauma, buried memories, and the secrets that pass from one generation to the next. Djinns is a powerful family saga about the longing to be understood—and the ghosts we must confront to find freedom.

Türkiye Germany 2022

A Bookshop in Algiers

A Bookshop in Algiers

Can a small bookshop preserve the soul of a city through war, revolution, and the passing of generations? In 1936, twenty-year-old Edmond Charlot opens a bookshop in Algiers with an ambitious dream: to create a home for writers and readers from across the Mediterranean. His little shop, Les Vraies Richesses (“Our True Riches”), becomes a cultural refuge, publishing emerging writers—including a young Albert Camus—while Algeria undergoes profound political and social change. Decades later, the shop faces a very different future. Ryad, a young man with little interest in literature, arrives to empty its shelves before the premises are transformed into something else. But through the memories of its elderly guardian and the traces left by generations of readers, he begins to discover the extraordinary history contained within its walls. Moving between past and present, Kaouther Adimi weaves together the story of a real literary landmark and the turbulent history of modern Algeria. A tender tribute to books, cultural memory, and the people who protect both, A Bookshop in Algiers asks what a community loses when it allows its literary heritage to disappear.

The House of Little Sisters

The House of Little Sisters

Singapore, 1931. Sixteen-year-old Ah Mei is sold into domestic servitude, becoming one of the mui tsai—young Chinese girls forced to serve wealthy households. When she encounters the ghost of another young servant, she begins to uncover the hidden stories of women whose lives have been shaped by exploitation and silence. As Ah Mei falls in love with Hassan, an aspiring poet, she must find the courage to challenge the social hierarchies that threaten to determine her future. Blending historical fiction, romance, and supernatural elements, this is a haunting story of resilience, forbidden love, and the struggle for freedom.

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence

Rebecca F. Kuang

What if translation were the most powerful weapon in the world? In 1830s Oxford, Robin Swift, an orphan from Canton, is brought to England to study languages at the prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, known as Babel. There, silver-working transforms the subtle differences between languages into extraordinary magical power, helping the British Empire expand its influence across the globe. But as Robin and his fellow students uncover the violence and exploitation sustaining this system, they face an impossible choice: serve the institution that gave them a future or destroy the machinery of imperial power. Blending dark academia, historical fantasy, and political intrigue, Babel examines the relationship between language and power, asking what is lost when cultures are translated, exploited, and controlled by those who rule.

United Kingdom 2022

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