A Month in the Country
by J.L. Carr
This quiet, dreamy novel finds healing and redemption in ways
unexpected. Tom Birkin travels to Oxgodby to restore a medieval mural
of the apocalypse. The job is fitting as he has just survived “hell on
Earth” in the form of World War 1.
In the Memory of the Forest
by Charles Powers
Set in post-war Poland, In the Memory of the Forest
focuses on the years immediately after the fall of Communism. This is a
subtle and beautifully articulated work by journalist Charles Powers.
The Assault
by Harry Mulisch
An astonishing psychological novel, The Assault
recollects events set in motion in wartime Netherlands when a Nazi
officer is assassinated and a family is selected to “pay for the
crime.” The surviving son is left trying to understand what happened
that night.
Perfume
by Patrick Suskind
This
inimitable tale of an 18th century Parisian murderer obsessed with
capturing the essence of beautiful young virgins delves into the
morality of action and storytelling.
Libra
by Don DeLillo
A fictional account of the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, Libra is a gripping story full of insight about the short, unhappy life of Kennedy’s assassin.
Mariette in Ecstasy
by Ron Hansen
A
novel about a fervent young woman who becomes a nun and experiences an
intense spiritual experience. Question: is she a saint or is she crazy?
Independent People
by Halldor Laxness
The
story of a family in Iceland between the wars. Laxness brilliantly
writes about family, politics, and an old world struggling to enter a
more modern one.
Montenegro
by Starling Lawrence
Auberon
Harwell, sent to evaluate Britain’s prospects as the Ottoman Empire is
disintegrating, becomes entangled in events larger and more deadly than
anticipated. Lawrence’s assiduously researched historical novel
promises intrigue and suspense even as Harwell’s doom seems imminent.
Remembering Babylon
by David Malouf
Set in Australia in the mid 1840s, Remembering Babylon
tells the story of a European raised in the wild by Aborigines and
rejected by both cultures until a courageous Scottish family stands up
for him. The writing is tremendous.
The Conformist
by Alberto Moravia
The conformist, Marcello Clerici, is asked to kill his former professor
by the fascist Mussolini government. Moravia's novel is a deep psychologically
examination of what becomes of a people caught in a society of control.
The Night Inspector
by Frederick Busch
William
Bartholomew does not adapt well to post Civil War Manhattan. He was
shot in the face and wears a mask under which he carries a vitriolic
tongue and a matched bitterness. But when he meets Herman Melville,
this dark historical fiction becomes a caper as the two men set off for
Florida to emancipate a group of black children.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullers
Compassionate and incisive, this is McCullers’ first novel, but perhaps
her best. She chronicles a 1930 Georgia mill town and the connection
Mick Kelly, a passionately musical adolescent, discovers with deaf-mute
John Singer and the other misfits in her town.
The Living
by Annie Dillard
This novel about pioneer in the Pacific Northwest life evokes rich
characters and is keen-eyed in observing the grace of optimism and the
persistent failings that cling to all societies, old and new.
Cold Mountain
by Charles Frazier
Beautifully written in the dialect of the North Carolina mountain region, Cold Mountain
tells the story of Inman, a Confederate deserter making his way on foot
from Virginia to his sweetheart, Ada, in North Carolina.
