If you’re looking to read more works in translation this month, here’s five new works of fiction to bring you stories from around the world.

The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas (translated by Frank Wynne)

The Salpêtrière asylum, 1885. All of Paris is in thrall to Doctor Charcot and his displays of hypnotism on women who have been deemed mad or hysterical, outcasts from society. But the truth is much more complicated - for these women are often simply inconvenient, unwanted wives or strong-willed daughters.

Once a year a grand ball is held at the hospital. For the Parisian elite, the Mad Women’s Ball is the highlight of the social season; for the women themselves, it is a rare moment of hope. This time, fates will collide on the night of the Mad Women’s Ball…

Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki (translated by Polly Barton)

On a planet where men are contained in ghettoised isolation, women enjoy the fruits of a queer matriarchal utopia - until a boy escapes and a young woman’s perception of the world is violently interrupted. Two old friends enjoy cocktails on a holiday resort planet where all is not as it seems.

At turns nonchalantly hip and charmingly deranged, Suzuki’s singular slant on speculative fiction would be echoed in countless later works, from Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami, to Black Mirror and Ex Machina. In these darkly playful and punky stories, the fantastical elements are always earthed by the universal pettiness of strife between the sexes, and the gritty reality of life on the lower rungs, whatever planet that ladder might be on.

I Am the Tiger by John Ajvide Lindqvist (translated by Marlaine Delargy)

In the autumn of 2016 a wave of suicides swept through Stockholm’s underworld. Investigative journalist Tommy T’s star has faded since he was a fixture on Sweden’s talk-show circuit. His deep dive into the mysterious suicides will be his ticket back to the top. And the trail is hot: it leads him first to a murdered friend and then to a huge batch of cocaine.

Meanwhile, Tommy’s seventeen-year-old nephew Linus is getting in deep himself. He’s been selling his ADHD medication since he was thirteen, hoping for bigger opportunities. Now there’s one staring him in the face - in the form of a huge batch of cocaine. But there’s a larger plan behind what is happening, and the business turns out to be both stranger and more dangerous than either of them could have imagined.

What You Can See From Here by Tess Lewis)

On a beautiful spring day, a small village in Western Germany wakes up to an omen: Selma has dreamed of an okapi. Someone is about to die. But who? As the residents of the village begin acting strangely, Selma’s granddaughter Luise looks on as the imminent threat brings long carried secrets to the surface. And when death comes, it comes in a way none of them could have predicted…

A story about the absurdity of life and death, a bittersweet portrait of village life and the wider world that beckons beyond, What You Can See from Here is a story about the way loss and love shape not just a person, but a community.

The Therapist by Helene Flood (translated by Alison McCullough )

At first it’s the lie that hurts. A voicemail from her husband tells Sara he’s arrived at the holiday cabin. Then a call from his friend confirms he never did.

She tries to carry on as normal, teasing out her clients’ deepest fears, but as the hours stretch out, her own begin to surface. And when the police finally take an interest, they want to know why Sara deleted that voicemail. To get to the root of Sigurd’s disappearance, Sara must question everything she knows about her relationship. Could the truth about what happened be inside her head?