Here are eight new and recent fiction releases that come from authors writing around the globe – including one manuscript that was secretly smuggled out of North Korea.

From Nigeria…

Stay With Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò

Yejide is hoping for a miracle child. She has tried everything – arduous pilgrimages, medical consultations, dances with prophets, appeals to God – but ultimately, her in-laws have insisted upon a new wife and it will prove too much for Yejide to bear. Unravelling against the social and political turbulence of 80s Nigeria, Stay With Me is a devastating story of the fragility of married love, the undoing of family, the wretchedness of grief, and the all-consuming bonds of motherhood. The novel has recently been shortlisted for this year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.

From North Korea…

The Accusation by Bandi (translated by Deborah Smith)

This extraordinary book, based on true stories, is the first to be published in the wider world by a North Korean resident. The pseudonymous manuscript was smuggled out of the country. Bandi’s profound, vividly characterised stories illustrate the terrible absurdity of daily life in North Korea: the staunch Party man whose actor son reveals to him the absurd theatre of their reality; the mother raising her child in a world where the all-pervasive propaganda is the very stuff of childhood nightmares.

From Poland…

Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg (translated by Eliza Marciniak)

Wiola lives in a Poland that is both very recent and lost in time. Wiola lives in a close-knit agricultural community. Wiola has a black cat called Blackie. Wiola’s father was a deserter but now he is a taxidermist. Wiola’s mother tells her that killing spiders brings on storms. Wiola must never enter the seamstress’s ‘secret’ room. Wiola collects matchbox labels. Wiola is a good Catholic girl brought up with fables and nurtured on superstition. In vivid prose filled with texture, colour and sound, Swallowing Mercury describes Wiola’s childhood through to adolescence.

From Germany…

Kruso by Lutz Seiler (translated by Tess Lewis)

Kruso is the debut novel by renowned German poet Lutz Seiler. It’s 1989, and a young literature student named Ed, fleeing unspeakable tragedy, travels to a myth-draped Baltic island – a notorious destination for hippies, idealists, and those at odds with the East German state. Ed, who becomes an undocumented dishwasher, feels drawn towards the charismatic Kruso, unofficial leader of the seasonal workers. Everyone dances to Kruso’s tune. He is on a mission – but to what end, and at what cost?

From Hungary…

The Last Wolf & Herman by László Krasznahorkai (translated by George Szirtes and John Batki)

This book brings together newly translated short pieces from either end of László Krasznahorkai’s impressive career. In ‘The Last Wolf’, a philosophy professor is mistakenly hired to write the true tale of the last wolf of Extremadura, a barren stretch of Spain. In ‘Herman’, a master trapper tasked with clearing a forest’s ‘noxious beasts’ decides to track entirely new game. These intense, perfect novellas are full of Krasznahorkai’s signature sense of foreboding and dark irony.

From Denmark…

Mirror Shoulder Signal by Dorthe Nors (translated by Misha Hoekstra)

Sonja’s passed 40, and she’s trying to move in the right direction. She’s learning to drive. She’s joined a meditation group. And she’s attempting to reconnect with her sister. But Sonja would rather eat cake than meditate, her driving instructor won’t let her change gear, and her sister won’t return her calls. Sonja’s mind keeps wandering back to the dramatic landscapes of her childhood – the singing whooper swans, the endless sky, and getting lost barefoot in the rye fields – but how can you return to a place you no longer recognise?

From Argentina…

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell)

A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She’s not his mother. He’s not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins and the power and desperation of family. Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel.

From Italy…

Ties by Domenico Starnone (translated by Jhumpa Lahiri)

Ties is the story of a marriage. Like many marriages, this one has been subject to strain, to attrition, to the burden of routine. Yet it has survived intact. Or so things appear. The rupture in Vanda and Aldo’s marriage lies years in the past, but if one looks closely enough, the fissures and fault lines are evident. Their marriage is a cracked vase that may shatter at the slightest touch. Or perhaps it has already shattered, and nobody is willing to acknowledge the fact.