International fiction
Fellside by M.R. Carey
When Jess Moulson is found guilty of the murder of a young boy named Alex, she’s sentenced to spend the rest of her life within the walls of Fellside, a state-of-the-art, maximum security prison perched on the edge of the…
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
From the opening line of The Turner House, Flournoy had me hooked. Something odd, mysterious and mythical happens one night in 1958 to Cha-Cha, the eldest of the thirteen Turner children: a haint grabs hold of him and tries…
The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut novel is an entertaining tale that follows the unravelling of the Plumb family’s best-laid plans when the siblings’ long-awaited financial parachute, aka ‘the Nest’, is deployed early and unexpectedly by their mother to deal with the…
Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves
Virginia Reeves has written an extremely affecting debut novel set during the age of electrification in 1920s Alabama. It’s the kind of story that will stay with you long after you start reading the next book in your stack, and…
How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball
Midway through Jesse Ball’s novel How to Set a Fire and Why, the narrator, a fifteen-year-old girl called Lucia Stanton, takes a series of tests to see if she can be accepted into a prestigious school. After responding to…
See You at Breakfast by Guillermo Fadanelli
Guillermo Fadanelli’s short novel, See You At Breakfast? was originally published in Spanish, in 1999, and has now been released locally by Sydney publishing house Giramondo. Set in Mexico City, it follows Cristina, a prostitute who lives in a hotel…
Some Rain Must Fall by Karl Ove Knausgaard
I’m a big fan of the first two volumes in the ‘My Struggle’ series; they presented a brilliantly observed life with a brutal honesty that I felt was unique. I was, however, fairly indifferent about volumes three and four and…
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Last year, I read Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, and I was blown away. It was one of the best books I read in 2015. Now I’ve read Strout’s new novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, and I can…
Fever at Dawn by Péter Gárdos
Fever at Dawn is a debut novel by film director Péter Gárdos. Based on the personal letters of correspondence between his parents, it recounts their remarkable story of emancipation as Holocaust survivors. This sensitive work reads like a eulogy written…
When the Floods Came by Clare Morrall
Set in a future imagining of Britain that is scarily believable, the latest novel from Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author Clare Morrall is a literary thriller that forces readers to consider questions of family and survival.
Twenty years ago, a deadly…
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