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Kuessipan
By David Homel, Naomi Fontaine. 2013
Kuessipan is an extraordinary, meditative novel about life among the Native Innu people of northeast Quebec. With the grace and…
perfect pitch, author Naomi Fontaine (herself an Innu) conjures up a world that reads like no other, and a community-of nomadic hunters and fishers, of mothers and children-who endure a harsh and sometimes cruel reality with quiet dignity.Two Old Women
By Velma Wallis. 1993
Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River…
Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine. Though these women have been known to complain more than contribute, they now must either survive on their own or die trying. In simple but vivid detail, Velma Wallis depicts a landscape and way of life that are at once merciless and starkly beautiful. In her old women, she has created two heroines of steely determination whose story of betrayal, friendship, community, and forgiveness "speaks straight to the heart with clarity, sweetness, and wisdom" (Ursula K. Le Guin).Taino: A Novel
By José Barreiro. 2012
"Written" by Guaikán, the elderly Taino man who, in his youth, was adopted by Christopher Columbus and saw history unfold,…
Taino is the Indian chronicle of the American encounter, the Native view on Columbus and what happened in the Caribbean. This novel, based on a true story, penetrates the historical veil that still enshrines the "discovery." Presently a senior fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, José Barreiro is a novelist, essayist, and an activist of nearly four decades on American indigenous hemispheric themes. Barreiro is a member of the Taino Nation of the Antilles.Betty: The International Bestseller
By Tiffany McDaniel. 2020
'Breahtaking'Vogue'So engrossing! Betty is a page-turning Appalachian coming-of-age story steeped in Cherokee history, told in undulating prose that settles right…
into you'Naoise Dolan, Sunday Times bestselling author of Exciting Times 'I felt consumed by this book. I loved it, you will love it' Daisy Johnson, Booker Prize shortlisted author of Everthing Under'I loved Betty: I fell for its strong characters and was moved by the story it portrayed' Fiona Mozley, Booker Prize shortlisted author of Elmet 'A girl comes of age against the knife.' So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings. The world they inhabit is one of poverty and violence - both from outside the family and also, devastatingly, from within. When her family's darkest secrets are brought to light, Betty has no choice but to reckon with the brutal history hiding in the hills, as well as the heart-wrenching cruelties and incredible characters she encounters in her rural town of Breathed, Ohio.Despite the hardship she faces, Betty is resilient. Her curiosity about the natural world, her fierce love for her sisters and her father's brilliant stories are kindling for the fire of her own imagination, and in the face of all she bears witness to, Betty discovers an escape: she begins to write.A heartbreaking yet magical story, Betty is a punch-in-the-gut of a novel - full of the crushing cruelty of human nature and the redemptive power of words. 'Not a story you will soon forget' Karen Joy Fowler, Booker Prize shortlisted author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves 'Shot through with moonshine, Bible verses, and folklore, Betty is about the cruelty we inflict on one another, the beauty we still manage to find, and the stories we tell in order to survive' Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow ChildThe Last Man Standing: The chilling apocalyptic thriller that predicts Italy's collapse
By Davide Longo. 2010
A chillingly plausible novel about the collapse of Italian society and one man's struggle to retain his humanity amid the…
horror"A bleak, lyrical tale that evokes Cormac McCarthy's The Road.... Gruesome, intense, and strange... a eurozone nightmare brought to life on the page."--James Lovegrove, Financial TimesIt is 2025, and Italy is on the brink of collapse. Borders are closed, banks withhold money, the postal service stalls. Armed gangs of drug-fuelled youths roam the countryside. Leonardo was a famous writer and professor before a sex scandal ended his marriage and career. Heading north in search of her new husband, his ex-wife leaves their daughter and her son in his care. If he is to take them to safety, he will need to find a quality he has never possessed: courage.The Enigma of the Return
By Dany Laferrière. 2009
"An affecting meditation on loss and exile" ANGEL GURRIA-QUINTANA, Financial TimesWindsor Laferrière left Haiti in fear of his life. He…
has lived in Montreal for thirty-three years, and when his father dies in New York, himself an exile for half a century, Windsor travels there to attend the funeral, and then back to Haiti to inform his mother of the death. In Haiti, Windsor is faced with the grim truth of life in his homeland - the endemic poverty, the thwarted ambitions and broken dreams. But only here can he become a writer again . . .The Enigma of the Return lives where fiction, poetry and autobiography meet. These creative tensions sustain a narrative of astonishing beauty, clarity and insight."Looks set to become one of the great poetic statements of homesickness and return . . . It should be read by all exiles everywhere" Ian Thomson, Independent"A poetic, melancholic tour de force . . . a compelling, intense, stark and poignant exploration of living life as an outsider . . . The great Haitian novel" Jo Lateu, New InternationalistAlone in the Classroom
By Elizabeth Hay. 2011
In a small prairie school in 1929, Connie Flood helps a backward student, Michael Graves, learn how to read. Observing…
them and darkening their lives is the principal, Parley Burns, whose strange behaviour culminates in an attack so disturbing its repercussions continue to the present day. Connie's niece, Anne, tells the story. Impelled by curiosity about her dynamic, adventurous aunt and her more conventional mother, she revisits Connie's past and her mother's broken childhood. In the process she unravels the enigma of Parley Burns and the mysterious, and unrelated, deaths of two young girls.Monsieur Linh and His Child
By Philippe Claudel. 2005
Traumatized by memories of his war-ravaged country, his son and daughter-in-law dead, Monsieur Linh travels to a foreign land to…
bring the child in his arms to safety. To begin with, he is too afraid to leave the refugee centre, but the first time he braves the freezing cold to walk the streets of this strange, fast-moving town, he encounters Monsieur Bark, a widower whose dignified sorrow mirrors his own. Though they have no shared language, an instinctive friendship is forged; but Monsieur Linh's stay in the dormitory is only temporary. Sooner or later he and his child must find a permanent home.Delicate and restrained, but with an extraordinary twist, Monsieur Linh and His Child is an immensely moving novel of perfect simplicity, by the author of Brodeck's Report.Tropic of Violence
By Nathacha Appanah. 2016
Marie, a nurse on the island of Mayotte, adopts an abandoned baby and names him Moïse, raising him as a…
French boy. As he grows up, Moïse struggles with his status as an "outsider" and to understand why he was abandoned as a baby. When Marie dies, he is left alone, plunged into uncertainty and turmoil, ending up in the largest and most infamous slum on Mayotte, nicknamed "Gaza".Narrated by five different characters, Tropic of Violence is an exploration of lost youth on the French island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. Shining a powerful light on problems of violence, immigration, identity, deprivation and isolation on this island that became a French département in 2011, it is a remarkable, unsettling new novel that draws on the author's own observations from her time on Mayotte.The Natural Way of Things: 'The Handmaid's Tale for our age' (Economist)
By Charlotte Wood. 2015
'Savage: think Atwood in the outback' Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train'An unforgettable reading experience' Liane Moriarty,…
author of Big Little Lies'Ferocious... recalls the early Elena Ferrante' NPR'A masterpiece' Guardian'Devastating' EconomistShe hears her own thick voice deep inside her ears when she says, 'I need to know where I am.'The man stands there, tall and narrow, hand still on the doorknob, surprised.He says, almost in sympathy, 'Oh, sweetie. You need to know what you are.'"Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a brokendownproperty in the middle of a desert.Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be therewith eight other girls, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious jailers.Doing hard labour under a sweltering sun, the prisoners soon learn what links them: ineach girl's past is a sexual scandal with a powerful man.They pray for rescue but as the hours turn into days and the days into weeks and months,it becomes clear only the girls can rescue themselves. Winner, 2016 Stella PrizeWinner, 2016 Indie Book of the Year AwardWinner, Fiction Book of the Year, 2016 Indie Book AwardWinner, 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award for FictionWinner, Reader's Choice, 2016 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year Shortlisted, 2016 Miles Franklin Literary AwardShortlisted, 2016 ABA Nielsen BookData Booksellers Choice AwardLonglisted, 2017 International Dublin Literary AwardFreetown
By Otto De Kat. 2018
"He was a Fula. I say 'was', because I haven't seen him for a long time. I don't know if…
he's still alive or where he might be. He just disappeared."Maria is independent, unconventional and unafraid. She is trying to find an explanation for the disappearance of Ishmael, a refugee from Sierra Leone who came to her door as a newspaper boy and stayed for seven years. He was like a son to her. Vincent is a psychologist. Once he and Maria had an all-encompassing relationship, but since their break-up he has been living in a kind of haze. One day, Maria asks for his help. In the encounters that follow, Ishmael is pushed into the background by a rekindling of the old love between Vincent and Maria. The stories and memories that resurface come to replace the sadness at the loss of the boy. But despite the distraction of their new situation, Ishmael proves impossible to forget.Otto de Kat is known for concise novels that are beautifully observed, subtle and precise, and Freetown is no exception. Translated from the Dutch by Laura WatkinsonThe Upright Piano Player
By David Abbott. 2010
Henry Cage seemed to have it all. A successful business career, considerable wealth, and a reputation for being a just…
and principled man. But public virtues can conceal private failings, and as Henry faces retirement, his well-ordered life begins to unravel. On the eve of the new millennium he is the victim of a random act of violence which soon escalates into a prolonged persecution, with tragic consequences. Family secrets are revealed, and when his ex-wife Nessa summons Henry to Palm Beach, he realises that there is little time to redress the mistakes of the past. The Upright Piano Player explores with a tender, yet unflinching eye the small but devastating flaws in human nature that can shape our destinies.Vernon Subutex Two: A Novel (Vernon Subutex Ser. #2)
By Virginie Despentes. 2015
Rock star Alexandre Bleach might be dead, but he has a secret. It's a secret that concerns several people, but…
the only person who can unlock it is Vernon Subutex, former record shop proprietor turned homeless messiah and guru, last seen hallucinating and feverish on a bench in the parc des Buttes Chaumont.Aïcha wants to know the truth behind the death of her mother, Vodka Satana. And if she finds the bastards responsible, she wants to make them pay, whatever Céleste thinks of her plan.Céleste wants Aïcha to get a grip and stop hanging around with Subutex's gang of disciples. The Hyena wants to find the Bleach tapes. She wants to untangle her complicated feelings about Anaïs, her boss' assistant. And speaking of her boss, she does not want Laurent Dopalet to discover how badly she has double-crossed him.Laurent Dopalet wants the Hyena to find and destroy the Bleach tapes. He wants to forget he ever knew Vodka Satana. He wants people to stop graffitiing his apartment with ludicrous allegations. Above all, he wants people to understand: NONE OF THIS IS HIS FAULT.THE SEQUEL TO VERNON SUBUTEX 1, SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2018.Translated from the French by Frank WynneVernon Subutex One: English edition
By Virginie Despentes. 2015
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL 2018**WHO IS VERNON SUBUTEX?An urban legend.A fall from grace.The mirror who reflects us all.Vernon…
Subutex was once the proprietor of Revolver, an infamous music shop in Bastille. His legend spread throughout Paris. But by the 2000s his shop is struggling. With his savings gone, his unemployment benefit cut, and the friend who had been covering his rent suddenly dead, Vernon Subutex finds himself down and out on the Paris streets.He has one final card up his sleeve. Even as he holds out his hand to beg for the first time, a throwaway comment he once made on Facebook is taking the internet by storm. Vernon does not realise this, but the word is out: Vernon Subutex has in his possession the last filmed recordings of Alex Bleach, the famous musician and Vernon's benefactor, who has only just died of a drug overdose. A crowd of people from record producers to online trolls and porn stars are now on Vernon's trail.VERNON SUBUTEX TWO IS PUBLISHED IN JULY 2018Translated from the French by Frank WynneThe Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: A Novel
By Louise Erdrich. 1954
A New York Times Notable BookFor more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved Native American…
tribe, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. To further complicate his quiet existence, a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. He is faced with the most difficult decision: Should he tell all and risk everything . . . or manufacture a protective history for Leopolda, though he believes her wonder-working is motivated solely by evil?In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels set on the same reservation, Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a work of an avid heart, a writer's writer, and a storytelling genius.Sleeping on Jupiter: A Novel
By Anuradha Roy. 2016
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015A stark and unflinching novel by a spellbinding storyteller, about religion, love and violence…
in the modern world.A train stops at a railway station. A young woman jumps off. She has wild hair, sloppy clothes, a distracted air. She looks Indian, yet she is somehow not. The sudden violence of what happens next leaves the other passengers gasping.The train terminates at Jarmuli, a temple town by the sea. Here, among pilgrims, priests and ashrams, three old women disembark only to encounter the girl once again. What is someone like her doing in this remote corner, which attracts only worshippers?Over the next five days, the old women live out their long-planned dream of a holiday together; their temple guide finds ecstasy in forbidden love; and the girl is joined by a photographer battling his own demons.The full force of the evil and violence beneath the serene surface of the town becomes evident when their lives overlap and collide. Unexpected connections are revealed between devotion and violence, friendship and fear, as Jarmuli is revealed as a place with a long, dark past that transforms all who encounter it.Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
By Larry Mcmurtry, Leslie Marmon Silko. 2006
The great Native American Novel of a battered veteran returning home to heal his mind and spirit More than…
thirty-five years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing. Tayo, a World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. He is deeply scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese and further wounded by the rejection he encounters from his people. Only by immersing himself in the Indian past can he begin to regain the peace that was taken from him. Masterfully written, filled with the somber majesty of Pueblo myth, Ceremony is a work of enduring power. The Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition contains a new preface by the author and an introduction by Larry McMurtry. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.This Child's Gonna Live (Contemporary Classics by Women)
By Thulani Davis, Sarah E. Wright. 1969
"Sarah Wright's triumph in this novel is a celebration of life over death. It is, in every respect, an impressive…
achievement."--The New York Times, 1969"Often compared to the work of Zora Neale Hurston, the novel was unusual in its exploration of the black experience from a woman's perspective, anticipating fiction by writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker."--The New York Times, 2009Sarah Wright's searing yet lyrical story of a Southern black woman's life during the Depression--a period seldom accounted for in African-American literature-- is as compelling as her protagonist's insistence that "this child's gonna live." In this lost literary masterpiece by a seminal figure in the Black Arts movement, a husband and wife struggle amidst the poverty of Maryland's Eastern Shore during the 1930s. "Saturated in harsh beauty," declares Tillie Olsen, "this book has been and still is for me one of the most important and indispensable books published in my lifetime."Sarah E. Wright, novelist and poet, was a former vice president of the Harlem Writers Guild and coauthor of Give Me a Child. She died at age 80 in New York City.The Liar Next Door: An absolutely unputdownable domestic thriller
By Nicola Marsh. 2021
Numbness floods my body as I stumble up the steps leading to my house. Inside I know my five-year-old&’s bed…
is empty, her dresser is ransacked, her overnight bag is gone. I can see her dolls lying untouched through the window of our perfect family home – in the place where I thought I could protect her forever. My daughter is missing.You&’d think my first instinct would be to call the police.But I know who&’s taken my daughter.And I know that the police can&’t help me.Only I can convince the woman who has my baby to give her back. She thinks she knows my secrets… but she has no idea.Fans of Liane Moriarty, Sally Hepworth and The Girl on the Train will love this utterly unputdownable domestic thriller from USA Today bestselling author Nicola Marsh.What readers are saying about Nicola Marsh:&“Give me a second to get my breath back because that was a rush!… I could have never expected the final plot twist… will leave you shaking with adrenaline long after you finish. Believe me.&” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars&“This book left me utterly speechless! Wow!… I had a hard time putting it down to get anything done around my house!… The secrets!!! Oh my God the secrets this family kept was crazy!!!! I loved this book.&” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars&“This book has it all!!!!!!!!!!! Scandal, secrets, lies, murder, mystery, love. You think you have figured out, but do you?... My first book by Nicola Marsh, won&’t be my last.&” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars&“Oh my goodness this book was fabulous… all-consuming, completely engrossing… The ending was incredible and not what I predicted at all. Amazing. Highly recommended. Five big stars.&” Psycho-Thrilla Books, 5 stars&“Holy smokes… will rock you to the core… it's not just a scandal it's a gut-wrenching sucker punch that literally takes your breath away… I never saw that shocker coming towards me.&” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars&“I. Loved. This… I didn't see the ending coming until the moments that it was happening… it was impossible to pick who it could be.&” Coffee And Trainspotting, 5 stars&“Get ready for a rollercoaster ride! I can't tell you how many times I said &‘OMG&’ while reading this.&” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars&“Loved loved loved this book… unique and mesmerizing, it had me from the first page, and didn't let go until the last.&” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars&“CRAZY and unpredictable. This was a page-turner…The Warmest December: Gathering Of Waters, Glorious, The Warmest December, And Nowhere Is A Place
By Bernice L. McFadden. 2012
"McFadden's reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism . . . This is not…
a story of easy redemption . . . McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold of addiction."--Publishers Weekly"Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes."--Toni Morrison, author of Beloved"The sharpness of the prose and power of the story make it hard to stop reading even the most brutal scenes . . . The story feels real perhaps because it’s familiar . . . Or maybe, as Frey points out, the story is too vivid to be read purely as fiction. But in this Precious-style novel, genre is the least of our concerns."--Bust magazine"This is a story that cuts across all race and social strata in its need to be told."--The Dallas Morning NewsThe Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism that determined years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.Bernice L. McFadden is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels.