August – 2020 – Memory Police – Yoko Ogawa
Review of Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa Book Group 1 – August 2020-10-03 Memory Police’s story begins on an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, roses – until things become much more serious. Most of the Island’s inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with […]
July – 2020 – The Night Tiger – Choo Yangsze
The Night Tiger by Choo Yangsze Book Group 1 – July 2020 Choo’s second novel is set in the Kinta Valley in1930s Malaysia during the British Colonial period. Variously described as a murder mystery, an historical fiction novel, a coming of age novel and a ghost story; it combines elements of all four. As the […]
June – 2020 – Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng Book Group 1 – June 2020 Set in idyllic planned community, Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA Little Fires Everywhere tells the story of Elena Richardson, a woman who thrives on structure and rules, and her family. When Mia Warren, an artist who has been living a nomadic lifestyle as a […]
May – 2020 – The Court Dancer – Kyung-Sook Shin
The Court Dancer by Kyung-Sook Shin Book Group 1 – May 2020 The Court Dancer (translated by Anton Hur, published by Pegasus Books) is the story of Yi Jin, an orphaned young girl taken in by a kindly neighbor, who became the most accomplished performer in all the Joseon Dynasty royal court. She is favored […]
April – 2020 – Sold – Patricia McCormick
Sold – Patricia McCormick Book Group 2 – April 2020 The heart-wrenching story of Lakshmi, from Nepal, who is sold into prostitution at the age of 13, and kept captive in Happiness House – where she not only survives against all odds, but triumphs. Lakshmi’s family is desperately poor, but village life in the mountains […]
March – 2020 – The Sealwoman’s Gift – Sally Magnusson
The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson Book Group 1 – March 2020 In 1627 Barbary Pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted some 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island off the mainland. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his pregnant wife and their three […]
March 2020 – The Pearl that Broke its Shell – Nadia Hashimi
The Pearl that Broke Its Shell – Nadia Hashimi Book Group 1 – March 2020 The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi tells a story of a young girl in present day: Rahima. As she goes through various hardships,her Khala Shaima tells her the story of her great, great grandmother,Shekiba whose story bears […]
Feb 2020 – The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga
The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga Book Group 2 –February 2020 A brutal view of India’s class struggles is cunningly presented in Adiga’s debut about a racist, homicidal chauffeur. Balram Halwani is from the “Darkness,” born where India’s downtrodden and unlucky are destined to rot. Balram manages to escape his village and move to Delhi […]
Feb 2020 – Home Fire
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie Book Group 1 – February 2020 Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018 Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2017 Long listed for the Man Booker Prize 2017 Home Fire is a contemporary reimagining of the Greek tragedy Antigone. It is a powerful exploration of the clash between society, […]
Jan, 2020 – A Place for Us – Fatima Farheen Mirza
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza Book Group 2 – January 2020 As an Indian wedding gathers a family back together, parents Rafiq and Layla must reckon with the choices their children have made. There is Hadia – their headstrong, eldest daughter, whose marriage is a match of love and not tradition. Huda, […]