International fiction
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck & Michael Hofmann (trans.)
The title of Jenny Erpenbeck’s fourth novel refers to a tenet of ancient Greek philosophy – the idea of the right or critical moment to act. Just how kairos impacts the novel’s two major characters becomes clear in its final…
Pet by Catherine Chidgey
Pet, by New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey, is my favourite book of 2023 so far. Set in a Catholic primary school in the mid 1980s, it’s narrated by Justine, an 11-year-old girl. Justine’s mother has died recently, and her…
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
If you need to offload some suspiciously acquired jewellery while getting a good deal on a recliner in 1970s Harlem, Ray Carney’s your man. Or, at least, he used to be, before he went straight – now he’s living comfortably…
Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella
I had to read this book on title alone. I mean, who wouldn’t want to read a book called Bored Gay Werewolf? Seriously! I wasn’t disappointed.
Brian is a 20-something college dropout who is not living up to his…
Lioness by Emily Perkins
New Zealand author Emily Perkins’ fierce novel, Lioness, is about what lies beneath the polished veneer of a woman whose charmed life is beginning to unravel.
Therese Thorne has a successful business, a rich older husband who adores her, and…
Loot by Tania James
Most years there will be a book where the industry buzz arrives long before the physical copies. A question that hovers in the liminal space between the first rumour of a new publishing sensation and the delivery of the book…
Cousins by Aurora Venturini & Kit Maude (trans.)
Anything you read about Cousins will begin with its startling catapult into public consciousness in 2007. Seemingly out of nowhere – at the age of 85 – Aurora Venturini stormed the Argentinean literary scene by winning a national newspaper’s prize…
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
With classic Patrick deWitt wit and wisdom, The Librarianist is a novel as lovable as the author himself. (If you ever get the chance to see deWitt speak, I highly recommend you go.) I have to admit I expected there…
After the Funeral: Stories by Tessa Hadley
I mentioned to a writer friend that I was reading this collection and she reminded me that I’d recommended Tessa Hadley’s novel Late in the Day to her some years ago; she was underwhelmed – ‘Why do you like her?’…
A Line in the Sand by Kevin Powers
Having read two of Kevin Powers’ previous novels, I have to admit I may have been a bit biased when I started reading his new one. I was prepared to be devastated, heartbroken and emotionally flattened, just as I have…
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