Society & Class

Examinations of class, power, and the structures we live within.

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The Final Problem

The Final Problem

Arturo Pérez-Reverte

In June 1960, a violent storm traps nine travelers on the secluded Greek island of Utakos, where they are staying at the island’s only hotel. Their isolation takes a sinister turn when Edith Mander, a quiet British tourist, is found dead in a beach pavilion. Although her death initially appears to be suicide, the circumstances suggest something far more mysterious. With the island cut off from the outside world, the guests find themselves trapped in a classic locked-room mystery, and everyone becomes a potential suspect. Their unlikely investigator is Ormond Basil, a once-famous actor whose most celebrated role was Sherlock Holmes. Although Basil has spent his career portraying the legendary detective rather than solving real crimes, his familiarity with Holmes’s methods may be the group’s only hope. When another body is discovered, the mystery deepens into a deadly game involving literary clues, carefully staged murders, and a killer who seems to understand detective fiction as intimately as Basil himself. A witty homage to the golden age of crime fiction, the novel explores the boundaries between fiction and reality, the nature of storytelling, and the intellectual duel between a detective and a murderer—and between an author and a reader.

Rimini

Pier Vittorio Tondelli

Set during the summer of 1983, Rimini brings together the lives of seven people in the bustling seaside resort on Italy’s Adriatic coast. At the center is Marco Bauer, a young journalist sent from Rome to manage his newspaper’s summer edition. Hoping to establish his reputation, he becomes involved in a story that leads him into a world of political corruption, professional rivalries, and unexpected relationships. Around him, other lives unfold: a German woman searches for her missing younger sister, two aspiring filmmakers struggle to finance their ambitions, a lonely musician seeks connection among the coastal nightclubs, and a struggling hotel owner faces financial ruin. Their stories intersect against a backdrop of crowded beaches, neon lights, discos, and the restless energy of Italy in the 1980s. With vivid characters and a cinematic atmosphere, Tondelli transforms Rimini into a portrait of contemporary Italian society, exposing the tensions beneath its image of carefree summer pleasures. The novel explores ambition, desire, loneliness, and the pursuit of happiness in a world increasingly shaped by money, spectacle, and fleeting connections.

The Hidden Light of Objects

The Hidden Light of Objects

An ordinary object can hold an extraordinary past. In this award-winning collection of interconnected stories, Mai Al-Nakib illuminates the private lives of people across the Middle East, where personal memories intertwine with war, political upheaval, and shifting cultural identities. A young girl bears the name Amerika in a country growing increasingly hostile toward the West; a Palestinian teenager is drawn into a disastrous act of violence; and a Kuwaiti woman returns to her family after years of captivity in Iraq. Beneath the headlines, Al-Nakib finds the intimate moments that define us: love, betrayal, forgiveness, and the fragile hope of beginning again.

Dealing with the Dead

Dealing with the Dead

Alain Mabanckou

In the Congolese coastal city of Pointe-Noire, twenty-two-year-old Liwa Ekimakingaï wakes up in a cemetery, discovering that he has been dead for three days. Dressed forever in a pair of flared purple trousers, he finds himself among the cemetery’s other residents, whose extraordinary stories reveal a world where the boundary between the living and the dead is surprisingly thin. Unable to remember exactly how he died, Liwa sets out to revisit his past and uncover the truth behind his mysterious death. His journey takes him back to his childhood, his beloved grandmother, and the events surrounding his final night. As memories and rumours begin to converge, a darker picture emerges of a society shaped by corruption, political violence, and the pursuit of wealth and power. Blending African spiritual traditions, surreal humour, and social satire, Mabanckou creates a fantastical portrait of contemporary Congolese life. Beneath its playful, ghostly premise, the novel asks who controls the stories of the dead—and whether justice remains possible after life has ended.

Congo, Democratic Republic 2025

Great Eastern Hotel

Great Eastern Hotel

Set in Calcutta (now Kolkata) during the Second World War and the turbulent years that follow, Great Eastern Hotel is an expansive historical novel about a city caught between colonial rule, political upheaval and the promise of independence. The story begins in August 1941, on the day of Rabindranath Tagore’s death, when thousands gather to mourn the celebrated poet. Against this backdrop, the lives of four central characters begin to intertwine: Nirupama, a history student and Communist Party volunteer; Imogen, the English daughter of a British colonial official; Kedar, an aspiring painter from a wealthy family; and Gopal, a young pickpocket drawn into a dangerous underworld. Their paths cross with those of soldiers, artists, revolutionaries and secret agents who gather at the city’s famous Great Eastern Hotel. Through interconnected stories of love, ambition, espionage and political struggle, Joshi captures a society on the brink of transformation. The hotel becomes a symbol of Kolkata itself—a meeting place for cultures, conflicting loyalties and people whose lives are swept up in the currents of history.

Motherland

How did Russia move from presenting itself as a pioneer of women’s emancipation to embracing conservative values and authoritarian rule? In Motherland, journalist Julia Ioffe explores modern Russian history through the lives of the women who experienced, shaped, and survived its transformations. Combining historical research, personal memoir, and investigative journalism, Ioffe traces a century of upheaval, from the revolutionary promises of early Soviet feminism to the hardships of the Second World War and the contradictions of contemporary Russian society. She brings together the stories of her own Jewish-Russian family, feminist revolutionaries, women who fought on the front lines, single mothers who rebuilt their lives after the war, and modern activists challenging political repression. Rather than telling Russia’s story solely through its male rulers, Ioffe places women’s experiences at the centre of the national narrative. She examines how political ideals shaped women’s opportunities, how successive generations carried the burdens of social change, and how the failure of emancipatory promises contributed to the rise of modern authoritarianism. A finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Nonfiction, Motherland offers a compelling exploration of feminism, power, historical memory, and the complicated relationship between personal lives and national identity.

The Silver Bone

The Silver Bone

Kyiv, 1919. The city is caught in the turmoil of revolution, with Soviet forces controlling its streets while White armies threaten from the west. Amid political violence, shifting loyalties, and widespread lawlessness, young Samson Kolechko witnesses the brutal murder of his father by Cossacks. He survives the attack but loses his right ear, becoming an orphan in a city where survival is increasingly uncertain. When Red Army soldiers take over his apartment, Samson inadvertently uncovers their secret plans. His attempt to expose their activities draws him into a dangerous world of murder, espionage, and political intrigue. Soon recruited into the local police force, he begins investigating crimes that reveal the bizarre contradictions of life under revolutionary rule. The first novel in Kurkov’s Kyiv Mysteries series, The Silver Bone blends historical crime fiction with magical realism and dark humour. Through Samson’s investigations, Kurkov portrays a society where political upheaval has transformed ordinary life and the boundaries between justice, absurdity, and survival have become dangerously blurred.

A Shipwreck in Fiji

A Shipwreck in Fiji

Set in Fiji in 1915, during the First World War, A Shipwreck in Fiji follows Sergeant Akal Singh, an Indian police officer still struggling to establish himself in the British colonial administration. Recently transferred to the Pacific island colony, Akal is sent to Ovalau, a neighbouring island, to investigate reports of German soldiers supposedly hiding thousands of miles from the European front. He is also tasked with accompanying two visiting European women on a sightseeing trip and supervising a young local constable. What begins as a series of seemingly routine assignments soon becomes complicated when a controversial local shopkeeper is found dead and a group of Norwegian sailors is imprisoned in a Fijian village. Accompanied by his friend and colleague Taviti Tukana, Akal must navigate conflicting accounts, local politics, and the prejudices of colonial society. Meanwhile, the aspiring journalist Katherine has her own reasons for visiting the island. Blending historical mystery, humour, and social commentary, Rao explores colonial power, racial and class divisions, and the challenges of seeking justice in a society shaped by unequal authority.

Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad

Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad

In this remarkable and darkly humorous short story collection, Damilare Kuku takes us deep into the heart of modern Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and the lives of a collection of audacious women who cope with romantic difficulties by brilliantly turning the tables on the men who wrong them. One hardworking married woman calmly threatens sharp-edged revenge on her lazy, hypocritical husband. Another skillfully protects her own business interests by shielding her pastor-husband from allegations of cheating that may or may not be true. A group of wealthy wives deceived by their husbands join forces in a WhatsApp support group called the Virtuous Wives Guild. And a discerning dater fed up with Nigerian men makes a vow to date only oyibos before discovering that white men can act just as badly. A bestseller in Damilare Kuku’s native Nigeria, Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad is a raunchy, satisfying, and outrageous example of contemporary African fiction steeped in the chaos and allure of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest city. It’s also a love letter to Nigerian women: the women in these stories may be confronted at every turn with liars, scammers, and cheaters in their quests for love, but they always figure out how to come out victorious.

Second Chance Convenience Store

Second Chance Convenience Store

The Second Chance Convenience Store follows Dokgo, a homeless man living near Seoul Station who has lost his memory and struggles to make sense of his past. His life begins to change after he finds and returns a wallet belonging to Mrs Yeom, a retired teacher who owns a small convenience store. Grateful for his honesty, she offers him food and eventually gives him a job at her shop. As Dokgo becomes part of the neighbourhood, his quiet kindness begins to transform the lives of customers and colleagues dealing with loneliness, family conflict, and personal disappointment. Yet his mysterious past continues to cast a shadow over his new beginning. Through the everyday encounters taking place inside the store, Kim explores social isolation, economic insecurity, and the importance of community. The novel celebrates compassion and suggests that small acts of kindness can help people recover their dignity and rebuild their lives.

Guardian and a Thief

Guardian and a Thief

Set in a near-future Kolkata devastated by extreme heat and environmental crisis, A Guardian and a Thief follows two families whose lives become entangled through desperation and difficult moral choices. Ma, a mother determined to secure a future for her young daughter and elderly father, is preparing to leave India for the United States. Her plans are threatened when a young thief steals the documents her family needs to emigrate. The thief, meanwhile, is struggling to feed his own child in a city where poverty and climate catastrophe have made survival increasingly difficult. As their stories unfold over a single week, Majumdar explores the boundaries between right and wrong when people are pushed to desperate extremes. The novel examines inequality, parenthood, migration, and the moral compromises people make when protecting their families becomes a matter of survival.

Exit Zero

Marie-Helene Bertino

Exit Zero is a collection of twelve surreal and imaginative short stories that explore the strange, often unsettling experiences of ordinary people. Blending magical realism, dark humour, and reflections on mortality, Marie-Helene Bertino creates worlds where the boundaries between everyday life and the extraordinary begin to dissolve. In the title story, Jo returns to her estranged father’s home after his death and discovers that she has inherited an unexpected companion: a unicorn living in the backyard. Elsewhere, former lovers fall mysteriously from the sky, gardens become sites of communication between the living and the dead, and familiar objects take on uncanny significance. Beneath the collection’s fantastical premises lies a thoughtful exploration of loneliness, family relationships, grief, and the difficulty of navigating an unpredictable world. Bertino’s stories invite readers to look beyond the apparent absurdity of everyday existence and consider the connections, losses, and moments of wonder that give life meaning.

United States 2025

About this theme

Books: 140
Countries: 54

Countries with this theme

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Congo, Democratic Republic

Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Dominican Republic