An aging Israeli academic reckons with his family’s crimes—and his own—in Agur Schiff’s novel Professor Schiff’s Guilt. Professor Schiff is in no way proud of the fact that his ancestor made his fortune as a slave trader. But... Read More

In Pirkko Saisio’s autobiographical novel "The Red Book of Farewells", a Finnish woman navigates being a lesbian in a time when homosexuality was outlawed and when the currents of communism pervaded every aspect of life. Death opens... Read More

In Nathacha Appanah’s luminous novel "The Sky above the Roof", a teenager’s impulsive, confused actions lead to his imprisonment. Formidable, intense Phoenix was forced to be a child entertainer. Doll-like, she sang for adoring... Read More

In N. Prabhakaran’s postmodern short story collection "Diary of a Malayali Madman", people are touched by madness and constrained by the traditions and politics of their Indian societies. A man finds himself pressed into service as a... Read More

In Ronya Othmann’s captivating novel "The Summers", a German Yazidi girl comes of age in a time of political crisis. Syria is “found on maps, globes, and official documents,” but Leyla, who spends summers there with her... Read More

A secret between a husband and a wife threatens their existence in Marijke Schermer’s novel "Breakwater". Bruch is in love with Emilia. Everything about her is right. But without explanation, Emilia stops taking his calls. Her brother... Read More

In Sarit Yishai-Levi’s sprawling historical novel "The Woman Beyond the Sea", three generations of women consider what it means to love and the power of knowing your history. Although its chapters are narrated by a rotating cast, the... Read More

In Dorothy Tse’s novel "Owlish", a bizarre love affair upends a respectable man’s dull but orderly life in a city that is anything but ordinary. Perhaps it was inevitable that Professor Q, a middle-aged man caught in a dead-end job... Read More