GOD'S MERCY
Kerstin Ekman
Translated from the Swedish by Linda Schneck
With make-believe snow swirling around my head and imaginary wolves howling in the distance, I am reminded of Russian novels.
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Reviewed by Kathleen Ambrogi
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BABA YAGA LAID AN EGG
Dubravka Ugrešić
Translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursac
Ugrešić's take on the Slavic Baba Yaga story is part of the Canongate "The Myths" series, for which an outstanding collection of writers have each produced a contemporary retelling of a myth. The prospect of a retelling of Baba Yaga by a writer I admire greatly was too much to resist....
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Reviewed by Rachel Hayes
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THE BLYTHES ARE QUOTED
L.M. Montgomery
Every lifelong reader has at least one treasured childhood book. Mine is Anne of Green Gables, the quintessential novel by one of Canada's most beloved authors, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Though I am no longer part of Montgomery's target audience, I still treat myself to an annual read of her "Anne" series....
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Reviewed by Caitlin Fehir
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LANDSCAPE WITH DOG: AND OTHER STORIES
Ersi Sotiropoulos
Translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich
Ersi Sotiropoulos is one of Greece's most beloved writers, and one can see why! She wields a delicate and finely-tuned pen.
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Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood
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THE DISAPPEARED
Kim Echlin
The Disappeared, one of the five books shortlisted for the 2009 Giller Prize, is a novel about inexplicable loss and obsessive love. In this novel Anne Greves reflects on her lifelong love for Serey, a love that takes her from her sheltered life in Montreal to war-ravaged Cambodia.
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Reviewed by Joyce Nickel
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MY DRIVER
Maggie Gee
A comedy set against the backdrop of war might not seem viable, but Maggie Gee makes it work.
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Reviewed by Amanda Meale
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THE SEAMSTRESS
Frances de Ponte Peebles
A tale of two sisters, The Seamstress may not be the 'perfect' debut novel but it certainly heralds an exciting new voice from South America. Set in Brazil in the period 1928 to 1935, this novel follows the lives of orphaned sisters....
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Reviewed by Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe
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EVERYTHING GOOD WILL COME
Sefi Atta
Sefi Atta's debut novel is a coming-of-age story set in 1970s Nigeria that tells the story of Enitan Taiwo, a middle-class girl with a father she adores and an extremely religious mother she hates.
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Reviewed by Charlotte Simpson
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THE VAGRANTS
Yiyun Li
The Vagrants is set in Muddy River, a fictional city in the Chinese provinces, in 1979. In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, the country is being swayed by the democratic wall movement in Beijing, a popular movement calling for more openness and democracy....
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Reviewed by Rachel Hayes
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THE BURREN MYSTERIES
Cora Harrison
On April 21, 1509, Henry VIII became king of England and Lord of Ireland. His ascension to these titles mattered little to the Irish living in Western Ireland in the kingdom of Thomond....
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Reviewed by Jane Anderson Jones
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WHO ATE UP ALL THE SHINGA?
Park Wah-suh
Translated from the Korean by Yu Young-nan and Stephen J. Epstein
Both a coming of age story and a tale of ordinary people trying to survive in extraordinary times, Who Ate Up All the Shinga? is an absorbing read that will appeal both to those who enjoy intriguing storytelling....
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Reviewed by Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe
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AS THE EARTH TURNS SILVER
Alison Wong
Although As the Earth Turns Silver is Alison Wong's debut novel, the expectations are already high. In August this year she became just the third recipient of the Janet Frame award for fiction, which is fast becoming one of New Zealand's highest literary honours.
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes
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WHAT BECOMES
A. L. Kennedy
There are a few book titles out there that may suggest a line of a song, floating like a feather into my head, or even get me singing a few bars, but never has an earworm so utterly entered my brain as diligently as this one, as I found myself asking myself, in increasingly mournful and tuneless tones: What does, indeed, become of the broken-hearted?
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Reviewed by Carolyn Kelly
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GRAZING THE LONG ACRE
Gwyneth Jones
Gwyneth Jones has been writing amazingly good science fiction and fantasy, from a feminist viewpoint, for several decades now.
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Reviewed by Michael Matthew
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AMERICAN SALVAGE: STORIES
Bonnie Jo Campbell
The stories of Bonnie Jo Campbell go deep into America, past the stereotypes the world is familiar with, past the romance of ideals we have with our own culture, to a place that is raw and rough, where hope is an impermanent thing and dreams require courage to have.
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Reviewed by Jana Herlander
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PORTRAIT OF THE WRITER AS A DOMESTICATED ANIMAL
Lydie Salvayre
Translated from the French by William Pedersen
This very timely satire pits a ruthless, shrewd, obscenely rich magnate against a young, idealistic writer in a battle for the heart and mind of the reader. If you are thinking that you already know how the battle will turn out, you may be wrong.
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Reviewed by Jana Herlander
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THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY
Heidi W. Durrow
The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, the haunting and beautifully written debut novel from Heidi W. Durrow, is much more than a simple coming of age story. It delves into a host of serious issues including race, class, love, loss and acceptance.
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Reviewed by Barbara Steeg
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TRANSLUCENT TREE
Nobuko Takagi
Translated from the Japanese by Deborah Iwabuchi
Translucent Tree is a story that redefines what we know about romance, love, and the traditional means by which we try to obtain that love.
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Reviewed by C. Lariviere
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THERE A PETAL SILENTLY FALLS
Ch'oe Yun
Translated from the Korean by Bruce Fulton and Ju‒Chan
This collection of short works carries a title that is gentle and lyrical. Petals are delicate and beautiful and soft to the touch. They are silent when they fall.
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Reviewed by Carolyn Kelly
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