Society & Class

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

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Vilnius Poker

Ričardas Gavelis

Set in Soviet-occupied Vilnius during the 1970s, Vilnius Poker is a dark, surreal exploration of life under totalitarian rule. The novel follows Vytautas Vargalys, an intellectual working as a cataloguer in a public library, who becomes obsessed with uncovering a mysterious organisation known as “Them.” He believes this hidden force controls society, manipulating people’s thoughts, behaviour, and destinies. His growing paranoia intertwines with his relationship with Lolita, a mysterious woman whose fate becomes central to his increasingly fractured understanding of reality. The story unfolds through four different narrators, each offering a conflicting account of events. As their perspectives overlap and contradict one another, the distinction between truth, memory, fantasy, and delusion begins to collapse. Vilnius itself emerges as a living presence: a labyrinthine city haunted by historical trauma, political oppression, and the psychological damage inflicted by Soviet rule. Combining psychological horror, political satire, and postmodern experimentation, Gavelis challenges official historical narratives and exposes the ways authoritarian systems infiltrate people’s inner lives. The novel also questions whether individuals can ever fully escape the structures of power surrounding them. Published in 1989, as Lithuania approached independence, Vilnius Poker became a landmark of modern Lithuanian literature and a powerful literary reckoning with the Soviet experience.

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is Another Way for Africa

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is Another Way for Africa

In Dead Aid, Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo challenges one of the most widely accepted assumptions about international development: that financial aid from wealthy countries is an effective way to combat poverty in Africa. Drawing on economic research and historical examples, she argues that decades of government-to-government assistance have often failed to deliver sustainable growth, while contributing to corruption, political dependency, and weakened local markets. Rather than calling for an end to all forms of assistance, Moyo focuses on long-term development aid and proposes alternative ways for African countries to finance their economies. Her recommendations include attracting foreign investment, expanding trade, accessing international capital markets, and strengthening domestic financial systems. Provocative and controversial, the book challenges readers to reconsider the relationship between wealthy nations and developing countries. Moyo calls for African governments to pursue greater economic independence and for policymakers to rethink the mechanisms through which development is financed. Whether readers agree with her conclusions or not, Dead Aid raises important questions about accountability, sovereignty, and the effectiveness of international development policy.

Tales in Colour and Other Stories

Tales in Colour and Other Stories

Tales in Colour and Other Stories is a collection of short stories exploring the lives, aspirations, and struggles of women in contemporary Bhutan. Set primarily in rural communities, the stories portray women navigating marriage, motherhood, family obligations, social expectations, and the gradual transformation of traditional ways of life. With wit, subtle irony, and compassion, Kunzang Choden examines the tensions between tradition and modernity as urbanisation introduces new possibilities and changes how people understand themselves and their communities. In one story, a young woman discovers the confidence to make decisions independently of her mother; in another, a rural woman is drawn towards the glamour and opportunities associated with city life. The collection gives voice to women whose experiences are often overlooked, revealing the complexity beneath seemingly ordinary lives. Through intimate portraits of everyday relationships and personal choices, Choden offers a nuanced perspective on Bhutanese society, particularly the changing roles and expectations of women.

The Red and the Black

The Red and the Black

The Red and the Black follows Julien Sorel, an ambitious young man from a poor provincial family who dreams of rising through French society. Intelligent and determined, Julien sees the Church and the military as possible routes to power, studying religious doctrine while secretly admiring the military glory associated with Napoleon. His relationships with Madame de Rênal, the wife of his employer, and Mathilde de La Mole, the daughter of an aristocrat, become entangled with his social ambitions. As Julien moves between different social environments, he struggles to reconcile genuine feelings with his desire for status and recognition. Stendhal uses his story to examine class divisions, hypocrisy, and the limitations imposed by nineteenth-century French society. The novel portrays a talented individual attempting to overcome the circumstances of his birth, revealing how ambition can both challenge and reproduce the inequalities of the world he hopes to conquer.

The Palace of Illusions

The Palace of Illusions

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Palace of Illusions retells the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata from the perspective of Panchaali, also known as Draupadi, the princess who becomes the wife of the five Pandava brothers. Born from fire and raised amid royal expectations, Panchaali is intelligent, passionate, and determined to influence her own destiny in a world governed by men, duty, and political ambition. As her husbands fight to reclaim their kingdom, she becomes entangled in rivalries, betrayals, and the devastating conflict that eventually leads to war. The novel offers a fresh interpretation of familiar events by foregrounding Panchaali’s inner life, desires, and frustrations. Divakaruni explores gender, power, fate, and the consequences of pride, questioning how women experience and influence histories traditionally told through the deeds of male heroes

Foucault's Pendulum

Foucault's Pendulum

Foucault’s Pendulum follows three Italian editors who work for a small publishing house specialising in obscure historical and occult manuscripts. As a private intellectual game, they begin inventing an elaborate conspiracy theory that connects secret societies, the Knights Templar, and centuries of hidden knowledge. Their fictional pattern gradually becomes more elaborate, drawing in real-world enthusiasts who believe the invented conspiracy reveals the truth about history. What begins as a playful exercise becomes increasingly dangerous as the editors lose control of the story they have created. Eco explores the human tendency to search for patterns and hidden meanings, showing how the desire to explain the world can lead people into irrational beliefs. Blending historical references, intellectual satire, and suspense, the novel examines conspiracy thinking, interpretation, and the dangers of confusing imaginative connections with evidence.

The Yacoubian Building

The Yacoubian Building

Behind the elegant façade of a once-grand Cairo apartment building lies a society fractured by corruption, poverty, and unfulfilled dreams. Its residents include a disillusioned journalist, a young man whose ambition to become a police officer is crushed by class prejudice, a wealthy businessman pursuing forbidden pleasures, and an ageing aristocrat haunted by a vanished past. As their lives intersect, the building becomes a microcosm of modern Egypt, exposing the hypocrisies of its ruling class and the quiet desperation of those struggling to escape their circumstances. Bold and provocative, The Yacoubian Building offers an unforgettable portrait of a nation caught between tradition, repression, and the desire for change.

The Railway

In the fictional Uzbek town of Gilas, situated along the ancient Silk Road, a railway station becomes the centre of an extraordinary tapestry of human lives. Spanning much of the twentieth century, The Railway follows a diverse community of Uzbeks, Russians, Persians, Jews, Koreans, Tatars, and other ethnic groups whose lives intersect amid the upheavals of modern Central Asian history. Among its colourful inhabitants are an alcoholic intellectual, a Russian Orthodox priest, a formidable police chief, and an elderly moneylender. Through their stories, Hamid Ismailov captures a society caught between tradition and modernity, religious beliefs and revolutionary ideology, and local loyalties and outside influences. The arrival of the railway represents both opportunity and disruption, connecting this isolated community to a rapidly changing world while transforming its social structures. Blending humour, folklore, philosophical reflection, and historical observation, Ismailov creates a richly layered portrait of a multicultural society confronting the consequences of imperial expansion and Soviet rule. The novel offers a distinctive perspective on Central Asia’s complex cultural heritage and the profound changes that shaped the region during the twentieth century.

Uzbekistan 2006

Snow

Snow follows Ka, a Turkish poet returning from political exile in Germany to the remote city of Kars. Officially, he is investigating a series of young women’s suicides, but he is also drawn into the city’s complicated political and religious tensions. As a severe snowstorm isolates Kars from the outside world, Ka becomes entangled with secular intellectuals, Islamists, Kurdish activists, and military authorities. His renewed feelings for İpek, a woman he once knew, offer the possibility of personal happiness amid the surrounding instability. However, a theatrical performance and a military coup intensify the conflict between competing ideological groups. Pamuk examines secularism, religious belief, censorship, and the difficulties of individual freedom in a deeply divided society. Through Ka’s experiences, the novel explores how political convictions shape private lives and how difficult it can be to remain independent when every side demands allegiance.

The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo

The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo

Germano Almeida

Set on the Cape Verdean island of São Vicente, this witty and insightful novel begins with the death of Senhor Napumoceno da Silva Araújo, a respected businessman whose carefully constructed public image is about to unravel. Born into poverty, Napumoceno has built a successful import-export company and become a prominent figure in the community. To outsiders, he appears disciplined, respectable, and almost obsessively proper. However, when his lengthy last will and testament is read aloud, it reveals a very different man. Through a combination of memoir, confession, and unexpected revelations, Napumoceno exposes secret relationships, questionable business dealings, and the existence of a daughter nobody knew about. His revelations also disrupt the inheritance plans of his nephew, who assumes he is the rightful heir. With humour and gentle irony, Germano Almeida explores the gap between public reputation and private reality. The novel also examines social ambition, hypocrisy, family, and the legacies of colonial society in Cape Verde. Beneath its comic surface lies a thoughtful portrait of a man struggling to reconcile the person he wanted to be with the life he actually lived.

Cabo Verde 2004

Moth Smoke

Set in Lahore during the sweltering summer of 1998, against the backdrop of Pakistan’s first nuclear tests, Moth Smoke follows Darashikoh “Daru” Shezad, a young banker whose carefully constructed life begins to collapse after he loses his job. Suddenly unable to maintain his place among the city’s privileged elite, Daru watches as his childhood friend Ozi returns from America with a wealthy lifestyle, a beautiful wife, and a future that seems increasingly out of reach. Daru becomes obsessed with Ozi’s wife, Mumtaz, a restless woman who secretly works as an investigative journalist, and their attraction draws him into a dangerous spiral of drugs, crime, and self-destruction. Told through shifting perspectives, courtroom testimonies, and the voices of those who know him, the novel gradually reveals the contradictions of its troubled protagonist. Beyond Daru’s personal downfall, Hamid paints a vivid portrait of a society divided by wealth, corruption, and inherited privilege. Like moths drawn irresistibly toward a flame, the characters pursue desires that may ultimately destroy them. Moth Smoke is a sharp, darkly humorous exploration of ambition, inequality, and moral collapse in a rapidly changing Pakistan.

By Night in Chile

By Night in Chile

Roberto Bolaño

By Night in Chile is narrated by Father Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix, a Chilean priest, literary critic, and member of the country’s intellectual establishment. As he lies dying, he reflects on his life, defending his decisions and attempting to reconcile his cultural ambitions with the political realities of Chile under Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. His memories reveal disturbing connections between literary circles, religious institutions, and the machinery of political repression. Bolaño uses a single, breathless monologue to expose the compromises and silences of people who preserve their social standing while injustice unfolds around them. Blurring the boundaries between confession, satire, and historical testimony, the novella examines complicity, moral cowardice, and the responsibility of intellectuals when faced with authoritarian power.

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About this theme

Books: 140
Countries: 54

Countries with this theme

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Congo, Democratic Republic

Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Dominican Republic