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, […]
Nov 2019 – Colors of the Mountain
Colors of the Mountain By Da Chen Book Group 1 – November 2019 In the autobiography of his upbringing in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Da describes his struggles as an intelligent, artistic child of a former wealthy family to live among society in which all his values and capabilities stigmatized him as an outsider. […]
Nov 2019 – The Dragon Behind the Glass
The Dragon Behind the Glass by Emily Voight Book Group 2 – November 2019 Coveted as a status symbol believed to bring good luck, the Asian Arowana, or ‘dragon fish’, is an example of a modern paradox: the mass-produced endangered species. The book starts with the murder of a young man for his pet fish […]
October 2019 – Secret Daughter
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda Book Group 1- October 2019 Our book group read the New York Times bestseller Secret Daughter (2010) by Canadian-Indian author Shilpi Somaya Gowda for November. A highly acclaimed novel, Secret Daughter, has been translated into more than thirty languages and has sold more than a million copies. Set in […]
October 2019 – First They Killed My Father
First They Killed My Father by Luong Ung Book Group 2 – October 2019 This is a story that was repeated in approximately eight million lives. It was the agrarian, communist dream that was to restore Kampuchea but ended up forcing constant hunger on its citizens until more than two million died. The narrator of […]
Sep 2019 – No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison
No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani Book Group 1 – September 2019 The 2018 Victoria Prize for the best in Australian Literature was awarded to an author who is not Australian, has never been to Australia and will never be allowed to visit Australia: Behrouz Boochani, the author of […]
Aug 2019 – Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick Group 2 – August 2019 Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over 15 years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-Sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-Il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine […]