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Frankenstein in Baghdad

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Man Booker International Prize finalist

From the rubble-strewn streets of U.S.-occupied Baghdad, Hadi—a scavenger and an oddball fixture at a local café—collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognize the parts as people and to give them proper burial. But when the corpse goes missing, a wave of eerie murders sweeps the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking criminal who, though shot, cannot be killed. Hadi soon realizes he’s created a monster, one that needs human flesh to survive—first from the guilty, and then from anyone in its path.

A prizewinning novel by “Baghdad’s new literary star” (The New York Times), Frankenstein in Baghdad captures with white-knuckle horror and black humor the surreal reality of contemporary Iraq.

“The book I can’t get out of my head? The haunting, brutal and funny Frankenstein in Baghdad.” —NY Times Book Review

“Powerful . . . Surreal . . . Darkly humorous . . . Cleverly conscripts a macabre character from a venerable literary work in the service of a modern-day cautionary fable . . . An excellent English translation.” —Chicago Tribune

(Group read suggestion from Sue Attalla, book club moderator.)

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The Sisters of Alameda Street

Currently available on Kindle US for $1.99

When Malens tidy, carefully planned world collapses following her father’s mysterious suicide, she finds a letter—signed with an “A”—which reveals that her mother is very much alive and living in San Isidro, a quaint town tucked in the Andes Mountains. Intent on meeting her, Malena arrives at Alameda Street and meets four sisters who couldn’t be more different from one another, but who share one thing in common: all of their names begin with an A.

To avoid a scandal, Malena assumes another woman’s identity and enters their home to discover the truth. Could her mother be Amanda, the iconoclastic widow who opens the first tango nightclub in a conservative town? Ana, the ideal housewife with a less-than-ideal past? Abigail, the sickly sister in love with a forbidden man? Or Alejandra, the artistic introvert scarred by her cousin’s murder? But living a lie will bring Malena additional problems, such as falling for the wrong man and loving a family she may lose when they learn of her deceit. Worse, her arrival threatens to expose long-buried secrets and a truth that may wreck her life.

Set in 1960s Ecuador, The Sisters of Alameda Street is a sweeping story of how one woman’s search for the truth of her identity forces a family to confront their own past.

"A family saga like no other—a story that's hard to put down." —Paula Paul

"This book is great fun. Scenes involving clandestine late-night excursions, visits to a seedy motel, and Malena's unexpected tango performances demonstrate the author's skills in writing comedy—such a rare treat in historical fiction. The many threads are carefully untangled, and the strength of family wins the day. Heartily recommended to saga readers." —Historical Novel Society

"[A] joy to read, with delectably evil villains and gratifyingly strong female characters. When those women face marital, societal, and career limitations, they end up overcoming them with ingenuity." —Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo

(Group read suggestion from Gemma Ware, book club moderator.)

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Cockfight

Named 1 of the best fiction books of 2018 by the NY Times en Español

In lucid and compelling prose, Ampuero sheds light on the hidden aspects of the home: the grotesque realities of family, coming of age, religion, and class struggle. A family’s maids witness a horrible cycle of abuse, a girl is auctioned off by a gang of criminals, and two sisters find themselves at the mercy of their spiteful brother. With violence masquerading as love, characters spend their lives trapped reenacting their past traumas.

“Heralding a brutal and singular new voice, Cockfight explores the power of the home to both create and destroy those within it.” —Independent Book Review

“Ampuero leads the international wave of Ecuadorian writers.” —NY Times en Español

“Ampuero writes with steely nerves and an ear for the beauty of simple, concrete language—not a word feels out of place.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Deftly written with spare, exacting prose, Cockfight. . . .presents searing portraits of family life.” —Latino Book Review

“Wielded like a righteous cudgel against exploitative power, this Ecuadorian debut makes no bones about its intentions from the get-go. . . . Ampuero fights dirty and, frankly, that’s just the sort of writer we need.” —Center for the Art of Translation

“Ampuero’s literary voice is tough and beautiful at once: her stories are exquisite and dangerous objects.” —Yuri Herrera

“María Fernanda Ampuero’s voice is urgent, intimate, lyrical while never forgetting to cast humor during the darkest of violent moments.” —Ernesto Quiñonez

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)

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Funventions

Included with Kindle Unlimited

Written by one of the most important voices of modern Ecuadorian literature. “If you like Borges, Casares, and Cortasar, buy it with your eyes closed!” —Xenia Germeni

While every year there appear scientific and technological advances to puzzle and dazzle us, people keep on loving one another, feeling fear, thinking, searching, working, walking the paths of life. The more things change, the more they stay the same: it's this paradox that Ubidia evokes so well in these stories. He fuses exotic themes, such as edible books, miniature humans proliferating in laboratories, and a crystal city with the quotidian reality of contemporary Latin America. Mixing the actual and the imaginary, he takes us beyond the limits of science and technology and into the labyrinths of the human soul.

Entertaining and profound. In each of these beautiful stories, Ubidia insists that despite its flights of fancy—including art and science—the human mind cannot go far beyond its own fears, desires, and uncertainties.

“Each story, a world. My favorite storyteller of all time.” —Stef León

“Beautifully written. The author has the gift of building exquisite phrases for the delight of the reader…Abdon uses fantasy as an excuse to explore human nature. This is the type of fantasy that succeeds in delivering not only stories to entertain, but also reflections for the reader on key matters about our humanity.” —Isidro

“Abdon Ubidia is regarded in Latin America and elsewhere as one of the most representative and relevant voices of modern Ecuadorian literature.” —Ecuador Fiction

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Jawbone

Finalist for the 2022 National Book Award in Translated Literature, Longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize & Ms. Magazine “Favorite Books of 2022”

Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of a deserted cabin, held hostage by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise?

When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from the Delta Bilingual Academy convene after school, Annelise leads them in thrilling but increasingly dangerous rituals to a rhinestoned, Dior-scented, drag-queen god of her own invention. Even more perilous is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare in which violence meets love. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara, who is obsessed with imitating her dead mother, struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality.

Interweaving pop culture references and horror concepts drawn from Herman Melville, H. P. Lovecraft, and anonymous “creepypastas,” Jawbone is an ominous, multivocal novel that explores the terror inherent in the pure potentiality of adolescence and the fine line between desire and fear.

“Delectable. . . . There are echoes of Lovecraft and Shirley Jackson at play, but the vision is ultimately Ojeda’s own―delicious in how it seduces and disturbs the reader as the girls rely on horror both as entertainment and as a way of staving off the actual terrors of growing up. This is creepy good fun.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Edgar Allan Poe meets a few of the mean girls. . . . Mother-daughter relationships slide under Ojeda’s microscope, sharing space with the teacher-student dynamic and deities as objects in an exploration of power and sexuality during adolescence. . . . Every good horror story needs a victim; Ojeda’s monsters and victims wear the same faces.” ―Kirkus

“Rife with gothic body horror and the darkness of the jungle and within ourselves. . . . Ojeda is a strikingly singular voice, combining basic teen angst with stark madness and the power of teen girls to push back in a world that tries to make them powerless.” ―The Brooklyn Rail

(A special thank you to book club member, Jordi Valbuena for the suggestion.)

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The Other Son of God

The Other Son of God is the English version of Al norte de Dios, the tenth novel by the renowned Ecuadorian writer, Nelson Estupinan Bass. The author situates the work within the realm of the fantastic, a move that enables him to give free rein to his imagination. The protagonist, Satan, is the son that God, in his youth, fathered with an African woman. While serving as God’s aide-de-camp, Satan rebels and is banished to hell. The cause of the rebellion is Satan’s belief that God has been giving preferential treatment to Satan’s brother.

The action begins when God, disappointed with Jesus’ failure to reform man during his stay on earth, sentences Jesus to one year in a prison in hell, summons his black son to heaven, and reassigns the task of man’s rehabilitation to him. Satan accepts the challenge and returns to hell, accompanied by Sister Etelvina, a former nun, who has become bored with life in heaven, and Jesus. The former nun quickly becomes a trusted aide to Satan and is the narrator who describes the physical features of hell as well as the work activities and punishments of the condemned.

On earth, Satan, with the help of seven disciples, works to reform man. He then spends some time in hell before returning to heaven accompanied by Jesus and his family (Jesus gets married while in hell and fathers a child there.) In God’s meeting with Satan and Jesus, the focus of the conversation is on Satan’s activities on earth and God’s ideas for the future of heaven, hell, and earth.

It is worth noting that the author takes pains to examine common social, political and ethical issues encountered in all three settings—heaven, hell and earth—in which the action of the novel unfolds.

(Group read suggestion from Sue Attalla, book club moderator.)

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This World Does Not Belong to Us

Winner English PEN Award

After years away, Lucas returns uninvited to the home he was expelled from as a child. The garden has been conquered by weeds, which blanket his mother’s beloved flowerbeds and his father’s grave alike. A lot has changed since Eloy and Felisberto were invited into the family home to work for Lucas’s father, long ago. The two hulking strangers have brought the land and everyone on it under their control—and removed nuisances like Lucas. Now everything rots. Lucas, a hardened young man, turns to a world that thrives in dirt and darkness: the world of insects. In raw, lyrical prose, García Freire portrays a world brought low by human greed, while hinting at glimmers of hope in the unlikeliest places.

“One of the debut novels that most stood out this year in Latin America.” —NY Times

”Who would have thought that a novel so overflowing with animals, insects, flowers, and shrubs could teach us so much about ourselves?”—Latin American Literature Today

”This World Does Not Belong to Us leads the reader into the deepest, darkest regions of human existence, where what is most infected and rotten becomes beautiful and liberating.” —Toda Literatura

“A deliciously menacing read which I just couldn't put down. Every word punches hard.” —Jan Carson

”I am moved by its tenderness, the shadow of its flight, the kingdom it comes from. Insect and poverty. Larva and death.” —Dara Scully

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The Wall

While vacationing in a hunting lodge in the Austrian mountains, a middle-aged woman awakens one morning to find herself separated from the rest of the world by an invisible wall. With a cat, a dog, and a cow as her sole companions, she learns how to survive and cope with her loneliness.

Allegorical yet deeply personal and absorbing, The Wall is at once a critique of modern civilization, a nuanced and loving portrait of a relationship between a woman and her animals, a thrilling survival story, a Cold War-era dystopian adventure, and a truly singular feminist classic.

“Haushofer’s thought-provoking masterpiece stands as a touchstone for popular literary post-apocalypses by such authors as Emily St. John Mandel and Ling Ma and is certain to be a life-changing read for many.” —Library Journal

”A cult classic!” —The New Yorker

''The minimalist plot is enhanced by rich description and wise insight, and the translation succeeds in capturing the author's fluid, lyrical style. Recommended for general readers. —Library Journal

A haunting feminist sci-fi masterpiece and international bestseller that is “as absorbing as Robinson Crusoe” —Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize winner

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)

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The Birdwoman's Palate

Food is a window to the soul, and award-winning Indonesian author Laksmi Pamuntjak’s prose is as delicious as the dishes she describes. As Aruna, our frank and funny protagonist, discovers new flavors that awaken unknown truths within her, this lush and nourishing novel invites readers into Indonesia’s diverse mosaic of cuisines and cultures.

Aruna is an epidemiologist dedicated to food and avian politics. One is heaven, the other earth. The two passions blend in unexpected ways when Aruna is asked to research a handful of isolated bird flu cases reported across Indonesia. While it’s put a crimp in her aunt’s West Java farm, and made her own slow-roasted duck dish highly questionable, the investigation does provide an irresistible opportunity. It’s the perfect excuse to get away from corrupt and corrosive Jakarta and explore the spices of the far-flung regions of the islands with her three friends: a celebrity chef, a globe-trotting “foodist,” and her coworker, Farish.

From Medan to Surabaya, Palembang to Pontianak, the four have their fill of local cuisine. With every delicious dish, Aruna discovers a liberating new perspective on her country—and on her life—that will push her to pursue the things she’s only dreamed of doing.

“Pamuntjak’s second novel, The Birdwoman’s Palate, is her delicious love letter to the culinary world. The author, who made her name writing the bible of Jakarta’s food scene, takes us on a journey through the far-flung spots of the Indonesian archipelago, diving not just into the wealth of local cuisines but also the complexity of regional politics with her signature wit and wisdom.” —Yenni Kwok, Time Magazine

“Like Eat, Pray, Love and Without Reservations, The Birdwoman’s Palate offers generous portions of armchair travel and self-reflection, inspiring journeys both inward and outward.” —Gabriella Page-Fort"

Note: Currently free with Kindle Unlimited!

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)

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Apple and Knife

Inspired by horror, myths, and fairy tales, Apple and Knife is an unsettling ride that swerves into the supernatural to explore the dangers and power of occupying a female body in today’s world.

These short works of fiction set in the Indonesian everyday—in corporate boardrooms, in shanty towns, on Javanese dangdut music stages—reveal a soupy otherworld stewing just beneath the surface. Sometimes wacky and always engrossing, this is subversive feminist horror at its best, where men and women alike are arbiters of fear, and where revenge is sometimes sweetest when delivered from the grave.

Mara finds herself brainstorming an ad campaign for Free Maxi Pads, with a little help from the menstruation-eating hag of her childhood. Jamal falls in love with the rich and powerful Bambang, but it is the era of Indonesia's “smiling general” and, if he’s not careful, he may find himself recruited to Bambang’s brutal cause. Solihin would give anything to make dangdut singer Salimah his wife—anything at all.

In the globally connected and fast-developing Indonesia of Apple and Knife, taboos, inversions, sex and death all come together in a heady, intoxicating mix full of pointed critiques and bloody mutilations. Women carve a place for themselves in this world, finding ways to subvert norms or enacting brutalities on themselves and each other.

“In Apple and Knife, Intan Paramaditha has turned the fairytale on its head. Instead of helpless maidens, these fables are bursting with fierce and fabulous females, determined to exact justice in an unjust world. As the enigmatic title suggests, the writing is juicy and incisive. Every story is a gem and, as with all good fairytales, there are important lessons to be learned.” —Melanie Cheng,

“Deliciously dark and expertly disturbing, Intan Paramaditha’s compelling Apple and Knife will haunt you. Her weird, original stories reveal the darkness behind old tales and the shadows lurking at the edges of modern life.” —Ryan O’Neill

(Group read suggestion from Julie Jacobs, book club moderator.)

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Man Tiger

Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2016 & winner of the Financial Times Emerging Voices Fiction Award 2016

A wry, affecting tale set in a small town on the Indonesian coast, Man Tiger tells the story of two interlinked and tormented families and of Margio, a young man ordinary in all particulars except that he conceals within himself a supernatural female white tiger. The inequities and betrayals of family life coalesce around and torment this magical being. An explosive act of violence follows, and its mysterious cause is unraveled as events progress toward a heartbreaking revelation.

Lyrical and bawdy, experimental and political, this extraordinary novel announces the arrival of a powerful new voice on the global literary stage.

”Without a doubt the most original, imaginatively profound, and elegant writer of fiction in Indonesia today.” —Benedict Anderson

“A supernatural tale of murder and desire fascinatingly subverts the crime genre … Kurniawan’s writing demonstrates an affinity with literary heavyweights such as, yes, García Márquez and Dostoevsky.” —Guardian

“Brash, worldly and wickedly funny, Eka Kurniawan may be South-East Asia’s most ambitious writer in a generation... Eka is shaping up to be [Indonesia's] Murakami: approaching social concerns at an angle rather than head-on, with hefty doses of surrealism and wry humour.” —The Economist

(Group read suggestion from Gemma Ware, book club moderator.)

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The Rainbow Troops

From Indonesia, an inspiring, record-breaking bestseller—and a modern-day fairy tale

Published in Indonesia in 2005, The Rainbow Troops, Andrea Hirata's closely autobiographical debut novel, sold more than five million copies, shattering records. Now it promises to captivate audiences around the globe.

Ikal is a student at the poorest village school on the Indonesian island of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered remarkable. His school is under constant threat of closure. Ikal and his friends—a group nicknamed the Rainbow Troops—face threats from every angle: skeptical government officials, greedy corporations, deepening poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and their own low self-confidence.

But the students also have hope, which comes in the form of two extraordinary teachers, and Ikal's education in and out of the classroom is an uplifting one. We root for him as he defies the island's tin mine officials. We meet his first love, the unseen girl who sells chalk from behind a shop screen, whose pretty hands capture Ikal's heart. We cheer for Lintang, the class's barefoot math genius, as he bests the students of the mining corporation's school in an academic challenge. Above all, we gain an intimate acquaintance with the customs and people of the world's largest Muslim society.

This is classic storytelling in the spirit of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner: an engrossing depiction of a milieu we have never encountered before, bursting with charm and verve.

“Hirata’s writing is as brilliant, beautiful, remarkable, and engrossing as the characters and the world he brings us. If you’ve ever been afraid to dream, or disbelieved in the true power of learning, read The Rainbow Troops and you’ll be changed by the two guardians and their small number of students, whose intelligence and vibrancy will intoxicate you. This is a treasure from one of the largest Muslim societies in the world.” —Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone

(Group read suggestion from Sue Attalla, book club moderator.)

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Saman

Saman is a story filtered through the lives of its feisty female protagonists and the enigmatic “hero” Saman. It is at once an exposé of the oppression of plantation workers in South Sumatra, a lyrical quest to understand the place of religion and spirituality in contemporary lives, a playful exploration of female sexuality and a story about love in all its guises, while touching on all of Indonesia's taboos: extramarital sex, political repression and the relationship between Christians and Muslims. Saman has taken the Indonesian literary world by storm, and is now available for the first time in English.

“Ayu Utami is a groundbreaking novelist, whose Saman (1998) is credited with ushering in a sea of change in the nation’s storytelling by daring to deal with sex and politics in a way that was previously off-limits for female authors. This shift is known as sastra wangi. with some people at the time anecdotally referring to the women writers in the movement as the ‘cliterati’.” —Ann Morgan

(A special thank you to book club members, Eydis West & Beth Cummings for the suggestion.)

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This Earth of Mankind

Set at the turn of the century in the waning days of Dutch colonial rule, This Earth of Mankind is the first of the four books that comprise Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s Buru Quartet. A powerful story of oppression, injustice, and one young man’s political, emotional, and intellectual awakening. Pramoedya Ananta Toer wrote This Earth of Mankind while confined on the prison island of Buru, where prisoners did hard labor, clearing jungle with the crudest tools, and suffered starvation diets, beatings, and torture. Much of Pramoedya’s work has in fact been written under such circumstances.

Minke is a young Javanese student of great intelligence and ambition. Living equally among the colonists and colonized of 19th-century Java, he battles against the confines of colonial strictures. It is his love for Annelies that enables him to find the strength to embrace his world.

(A special thank you to book club member, Jordi Valbuena for the suggestion.)

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The Square of Revenge

The beautiful medieval architecture of Bruges belies the dark longings of her residents…

When the wealthy and powerful Ludovic Degroof’s jewelry store is broken into, nothing is stolen, but the jewels have been dissolved in jars ofaqua regia, an acid so strong it can even melt gold. In the empty safe is a scrap of paper on which a strange square has been drawn.

At first, Inspector Van In pays little attention to the paper, focusing on the bizarre nature of the burglary. But when Degroof’s offspring also receive letters with this same square, Van In and the beautiful new DA Hannelore Martens find themselves unraveling a complex web of enigmatic Latin phrase and a baroness’ fallen family and Degroof’s relationship with a hostage grandchild, ransomed for a priceless collection of art.

“A very likeable and very politically incorrect group of detectives. Humor is permanent, the plot well constructed, and the whole story extremely exotic.” —L'Express (France)

“To sell a million copies in only ten years! This never happened in Flanders before.” —Het Laatste Nieuws (Belgium)

“Aspe is and always will be one of our favorite authors. An exciting murder mystery, a pinch of humor, and a generous serving of romance are among the highlights of the series.” —Crimezone Magazine

(Group read suggestion from Julie Jacobs, book club moderator.)

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Dance by the Light of the Moon

Nominated for the prestigious Angoulême Grand Prize

Dance by the Light of the Moon is a moving love story inspired by the author's relationship with a Togolese political refugee. It began as a response to the publication of a short story, “Message from the Fortress”, written by the author's father, Geert van Istendael. In this, her father gave vent to his feelings about the relationship. At first angry with her father, the author publicly responded by reclaiming the story in this, what she terms, “semi-autobiographical” story.

While the first part of the graphic novel is told from her father’s perspective, the second part is told in flashback by the protagonist, Sophie, to her young daughter. This is a beautiful, unexpected tale, told from the heart, which reaches far beyond the story that originally inspired it. It tells of a young woman who is madly in love, and a father who, in spite of his prejudices, stands up for her love. More than that, it is about families, growing up, heartbreak and real life.

“Quietly beautiful, it's a book about politics. But it's also a book about family and a book about love. A love letter in book form, if you like. And something to love.” —The Herald

“A powerful look into the complexities of the human heart and prejudice, which is made all the more effective by being both personal and honest.” —Comic Heroes

“A refreshing counterpoint to the hot air that gusts up whenever immigration is mentioned.” —The Guardian

(A special thank you to book club member, Elke Richelsen for the suggestion.)

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The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin

The city of Simenon's youth comes to life in this superb Inspector Maigret mystery set in Liège.

In the darkness, the main room is as vast as a cathedral. A great empty space. Some warmth is still seeps from the radiators. Delfosse strikes a match. They stop a moment to catch their breath, and work out how far they have still to go. And suddenly the match falls to the ground, as Delfosse gives a sharp cry and rushes back towards the washroom door. In the dark, he loses his way, returns and bumps into Chabot.”

Inspector Maigret observes from a distance as two boys are accused of killing a rich foreigner in Liège. Their loyalty, which binds them together through their adventures, is put to the test, and seemingly irrelevant social differences threaten their friendship and their freedom.

“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian

“Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London)

“Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People

“A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London)

Note: This is book 10 of the 74-book series, however, the books can be read in any order.

(Group read suggestion from Beth McCrea, book club co-founder.)

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The Misfortunates

Frank, tender, and brutally funny, Dimitri Verhulst's semi-autobiographical story details the vibrantly entertaining journey of a boy growing up in a family of alcoholics in Belgium

Sobriety and moderation are alien concepts to the men in Dimmy's family. Useless in all other respects, his three uncles have a rare talent for drinking, a flair for violence, and an unwavering commitment to the pub. And his father Pierre is no slouch either. Within hours of his son's birth, Pierre plucks him from the maternity ward, props him on his bike, and takes him on an introductory tour of the village bars. His mother soon leaves them to it and as Dimmy grows up amid the stench of stale beer, he seems destined to follow the path of his forebears and make a low-life career in inebriation, until he begins to piece together his own plan for the future.

“Verhulst's gift for imagery is impressive . . . the humour is pitch-black and very funny.” —Prospect

“Verhulst's prose is always a delight . . .This is a subtle and wonderfully told story.” —Financial Times

“Ceaselessly entertaining . . . it bursts with humour and energy that never lets up.” —BookMunch

“Outrageousness yields to eloquent recognition in this darkly intelligent novel.” —Irish Times

(A special thank you to book club member, Morgan Downie for the suggestion.)

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Thirty Days

With a sharp and observational eye, Annelies Verbeke takes a funny, imaginative, and perceptive look at the realities and absurdities of human interactions, relationships, and everyday life.

Verbeke matches poetic prose with a cast of intriguing characters and unexpected plot twists. Our protagonist is Alphonse, a Senegalese immigrant who uproots his life in Brussels to become a handyman in a rural district in Flanders. Likable and charismatic, people cannot help but reveal their secrets, desires, and unexpected dreams to him. In her typically astute style, Verbeke weaves a vivid and thought-provoking tale of contemporary life, subtly touching upon timely themes such as refugees and racism.

Thirty Days is a deeply moving story about love, outsiders, and the human need to connect, compellingly translated from the Dutch by Liz Waters.

“While Thirty Days deals with these very contemporary, divisive themes of immigration, displacement, racism, and the rise of hate groups, it is not an overtly political novel, but an artful examination of the rich, interior life of one Senegalese immigrant, living in Belgium.” —The Literary Review

“Verbeke has constructed an entire life in 30 days (the chapters are numbered as such), and the result is nothing less than extraordinary.” —The Gazette

(Group read suggestion from Gemma Ware, book club moderator.)

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War and Turpentine

The story of Urbain Martien lies con­tained in two notebooks he left behind when he died. In War and Turpentine, his grandson, a writer, retells his grandfather’s story, the notebooks providing a key to the locked chambers of Urbain’s memory.

But who is he, really? There is Urbain the child of a lowly church painter; Urbain the young man, who narrowly escapes death in an iron foundry; Urbain the soldier; and Urbain the man, married to his true love’s sister, haunted by the war and his interrupted dreams of life as an artist. Wrestling with this tale, the grandson straddles past and present, searching for a way to understand his own part in both. As artfully rendered as a Renais­sance fresco, War and Turpentine paints an ex­traordinary portrait of  a man, re­vealing how a single life can echo through the ages.

“A future classic. . . . A book that lies at the crossroads of novel, biography, autobiography and history, with inset essays, meditations, pictures. . . . Every detail has the heightened luminosity of poetry.” —The Guardian

“A rich fictionalized memoir. . . . Death, destruction, obligation, duty–Urbain faces them all and yet he still finds joy in life.” —The Times (UK)

(Group read suggestion from Sue Attalla, book club moderator.)

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