~ Three Daughters of Eve, by Elif Shafak ~ An engaging novel, characterised by a distinctive writing style which demonstrates a fine-tuned consciousness and critical awareness. Particularly enjoyable are the author’s acerbic but good tempered observations on Turks, Turkey, and...
~ Olivia and Sophia, by Rosie Milne ~ This is a version of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and his two sojourns “Eastward” from the perspective of his two wives, Olivia and Sophia. It is not historically accurate; the author says...
~ Once Upon a River, by Diane Setterfield ~ As the title suggests, this novel is all about storytelling. Having not as yet had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Setterfield’s best seller, The Thirteenth Wife, I had no...
~ The Hunger, by Alma Katsu ~ This historical fiction novel tells the story of families of pioneers in wagon trains setting out from Springfield, Illinois, on 15th April 1846, attempting to reach California for a new life. The novel...
~ The Silver Dark Sea, by Susan Fletcher ~ This novel of Fletcher’s has a few distinctive elements in common with some of her other novels, like the House of Glass, and Let Me Tell You About A Man I...
~ The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker. ~ It must have been more than 20 years ago when Pat Barker kindly granted me an interview in my MA research. I was then studying her earlier novels in juxtapositon...
Xinran is a British Chinese journalist who has lived in UK for more than two decades. She has recorded the stories of literally hundreds of women in China, and given voice to the trials and tribulations, sufferings and sorrows of...
~Ponti, by Sharlene Teo ~ The name of this novel (set in Singapore) is an abbreviation of “pontianak”, a Malay/Indonesian word denoting a ghost, or a monster; a femme fatale which usually preys on men, and is usually depicted with...
~ Number One Chinese Restaurant, by Lillian Li ~ Joining other recent debut novels by Asian/Chinese American authors such as Jenny Zhang (Sour Heart, 2017) Lily Wang (Family Trust, 2018), Lillian Li’s novel also purports to examine relationships and family...
~ Family Trust, by Kathy Wang ~ This novel predominantly set in the Bay Area – though it is also partially sited in Hong Kong, Bali, etc. – features elite Asian Americans who attended Ivy League universities and hold high-paying...
~ The Windfall, by Diksha Basu ~ Diksha Basu’s The Windfall is not as light and flaky as many contemporary ‘society’ novels on the Indian-Writings-in-English literary scene. In fact, it is quite an astute and well observed novel under the...
~ The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder, by Sarah J. Harris ~ In 2003, there was Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, a ground breaking novel which provided the reader the then rare and charming...
~ Cousins, by Salley Vickers ~ There could have been no other possible title as apt for this novel, as Cousins. This is a novel of family love, love between cousins of various generations, love between siblings, parents, aunts, grandmothers, etc....
~ Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata ~ Keiko, the protagonist of this 2018 novella, is in what is generally described as a “dead-end” job, working in a convenience store in Japan for the past 18 year, or all her...
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