Read around the world - recent arrivals from diverse voices
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
Eight translators from around the world arrive at the home of their beloved author Irena Rey to work on translations of her magnum opus, but within days of their arrival, the author has vanished. A hilarious and thought-provoking exploration of art, fame, the natural world, and the power of language. Croft works her own experiences as a translator, as she and Olga Tokarczuk were awarded the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for Flights. Croft's first work, Homesick was a uniquely searing work of autoficiton, sisterhood and grief.
Avenues by Train by Farai Mudzingwa
Plagued by the ghosts of his past, a vanished sister, encounters with vengeful spirits, and the unsettling shadows, Jedza, a young Zimbabwean mechanic leaves his hometown for the city of Harare. As he grapples with the weight of his past, he must confront these lingering traumas to finally find peace. "Avenues by Train" is a captivating and experimental debut novel, a blend of the fantastical and the real, that explores themes of loss, resilience, and the enduring power of the past.
Out of Earth by Sheyla Smanioto
This multi-award winning modern feminist novel from Brazil focusses on the lives of four generations of women in the sertão, the Brazilian bush. The visceral yet fragmented narrative confronts Brazil's past and presence, through stories of violence and migration and abuse of humans, animals and the environment. A challenging but important story.
The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez
1907, Panama, a canal is being built. Thousands of people from across the Caribbean have descended on the area looking for work, including 16 year old Ada, a stowaway. Omar, the labourer son of a fisherman is offered a chance to escape a lonely childhood by working on the construction, and John, a scientist, searches endlessly for a cure to his wife's malaria. These lives and those of others around them will be forever changed by the canal in this richly evocative historical epic of love, loyalty and sacrifice.
Hard by A Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili
Decades after escaping the war-torn streets of post-Soviet Georgia for London, Irakli, driven by a past he can't outrun, returns to is homeland only to vanish. His son Sandro, follows suit, leaving the youngest son Saba to navigate a perilous journey back to their roots. As Saba retraces their steps through a nation etched with the scars of conflict, he grapples with ghosts of the past, encountering the unwavering resilience of a people clinging to hope. Woven with echoes of Shakespeare, The Wizard of Oz, and Grimm fairytales, this is a poignant exploration of self-discovery amidst the ruins of war.
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
After the end of an affair, and with a gap in her acting schedule, Sonia returns to Palestine to visit her sister Haneen. After nearly two decades away, Haifa is rife with childhood memories, but the family is fractured, her aunt and uncle now living in the West Bank, her father barely speaking to his sisters. Through Haneen, Sonia meets Mariam, a charismatic director who is staging a production of Hamlet in classical Arabic in Bethlehem who asks for Sonia's help with the female roles. A slow burn of a read, Enter Ghost is a multilayered exploration of an occupied land, where tear gas attacks, love affairs and family dramas play out against the violence of every day life.
Forbidden Notebook by Alba De Céspedes
In this re-translated Italian classic, Valeria, a housewife and mother living in 1950s Rome, feels a disquietude fester beneath the surface of middle-class domesticity. One day she buys a small notebook and begins to record her life, marriage and motherhood, and as the notebook fills and the days pass she begins to uncover a deep unhappiness but also a hidden strength, propelling Valeria towards a powerful reckoning with her life and a long-awaited awakening.
The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe
A retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone within a modern Nigerian family, The Middle Daughter is a story of a young woman, beset by grief at the loses of her sister and father who finds solace in the attentions of an itinerant preacher. There, trapped by children and an abusive husband, she is isolated from her family and must discover the courage and resilience within her to break free.
Listen to The Middle Daughter on Borrowbox
