In immersive and lyrical prose, Vénus Khoury-Ghata’s novel "The Fiancée Rode in on a Donkey" illuminates the life of a forgotten figure from French-Algerian history. When a rabbi rides into the Jewish community of Banu Qurayza, every... Read More

Joe Baumann’s "Where Can I Take You When There’s Nowhere To Go" collects surrealist short stories with grotesque physical manifestations of people’s emotional lives at their centers. Predicated on extended metaphors, their effects... Read More

In Jon Fosse’s novel "A Shining", a walk in the forest leads to an inexplicable, supernatural experience. Out of sheer boredom, a man goes for a drive and ends up lost in the forest on a snowy autumn night. There, strange encounters... Read More

In Savyon Leibrecht’s novel "The Bridesman", an Iranian Israeli family is changed by the arrival of a new bride. Micha was just nine years old when his elders embarked on an impossible quest to find a suitable bride for his Uncle... Read More

A motherless, neurodivergent boy bonds with his childless teacher in Elaine Feeney’s novel "How to Build a Boat". Jamie’s first day of secondary school was a complete catastrophe. But he also met Tess, an English teacher who treats... Read More

In Frederika Amalia Finkelstein’s novel "Forgetting", an insomniac grapples with the past and the future of a world perhaps beyond saving. Alma’s grandfather did not die in a concentration camp, but sometimes she says he did. And... Read More

Afghani young adults face hazardous, uncertain futures in Siamak Herawi’s novel "Tali Girls". Kowsar was quite young when the government built a school in Tali, her village. Though she shows great academic promise, the Taliban ends her... Read More

Grieving lovers navigate mental illness and political upheaval in Rahad Abir’s novel "Bengal Hound". East Pakistan in the late 1960s is an impoverished place marked by unrest, but life continues on, for better and for worse. Mere days... Read More