A Girl in Exile: Requiem for Linda – Ismail Kadare

During the bureaucratic machinery of Albania’s 1945-1991 dictatorship, playwright Rudian Stefa is called in for questioning by the Party Committee. A girl–Linda B.–has been found dead, with a signed copy of his latest book in her possession.He soon learns that Linda’s family, considered suspect, was exiled to a small town far from the capital. Under the influence of a paranoid regime, Rudian finds himself swept along on a surreal quest to discover what really happened to Linda B. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Exile-Ismail…/dp/1846558468

Shortlisted for this month

A Girl Returned – Donatella Di Pietrantonio

Told with an immediacy and a rare expressive intensity that has earned it countless adoring readers and one of Italy’s most prestigious literary prizes, A Girl Returned is a powerful novel rendered with sensitivity and verve by Ann Goldstein, translator of the works of Elena Ferrante. Set against the stark, beautiful landscape of Abruzzo in central Italy, this is a compelling story about mothers and daughters, about responsibility, siblings, and caregiving. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Returned…/dp/1609455282

Pure – Timothy Mo

Mo’s first novel in a decade is set within the battle for secession in the Muslim regions of southern Thailand. Pure covers epic expanses of time and is told through narrators who range from fanatical zealots to decorated Oxbridge dons. Everything that Mo’s readers expect abound in this long-awaited novel: versatile style, memorable characters, insight into those tormented by dual loyalties and the ability to handle the weightiest of themes with a light touch.

By examining the cultural wars of the past and present, Pure’s themes are among the most important of the day. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pure-Timothy-Mo/dp/1873262795