International Fiction
Read beyond our borders with these international fiction titles selected by a librarian at The Seattle Public Library. Annotations from review sources, as cited. (February 2025)
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The Empusium
(Poland) Nobel Prize winner Tokarczuk delivers the disarming tale of a Silesian tuberculosis ward and a series of mysterious deaths in the surrounding countryside. Tokarczuk concocts a potent blend of horror tropes and literary references (Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann) as she realizes the potential of her tale’s uncommon setting - a community set apart by the omnipresence of sickness and death, where the rules of civilized propriety give way to more fantastic possibilities. Readers will find much to savor. (Publishers Weekly)
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Clean
(Chile) Estela, a maid interrogated after a young girl's death, recounts her seven years witnessing the unraveling of a wealthy family, revealing their secrets, betrayals and tensions in a gripping tale of power, domesticity and betrayal. (NoveList)
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Pink Slime
(Uruguay) Told in a conversational yet purposely discomfiting future subjunctive tense, the novel recounts the slow breakdown of society after deadly algae washed ashore, killed all the fish, and made other living creatures sick when the wind blew off the sea. With her eerie and unnervingly probable plot, strong narrative voice, and focus on the small, beautiful moments of life amid disaster, Trías's tale will continue to haunt readers long after they turn the final page. (Library Journal)
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Songs for the Brokenhearted
(Israel) In this heartfelt and lyrical debut novel from Tsabari a Yemenite Jewish woman contends with her family’s origins. ... for the most part Tsabari artfully plays up the religious and secular contrasts between East and West, and her well-developed characters, dramatic plot twists, and rich descriptions of Tel Aviv will keep readers turning the pages. This is transportive. (Publishers Weekly)
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Womb City
(Botswana) Tsamaase debuts with a mind-bending and potent blend of Afrofuturist science fiction and horror. In a dystopian near future surveillance state, the bodies of minor criminals are “recycled” to allow old souls to reincarnate. The body horror and sci-fi elements work together beautifully, melding into a thrilling and thought-provoking page-turner. (Publishers Weekly)
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Strange Pictures
(Japan) Japanese horror artist and writer Uketsu makes a triumphant international debut with this eerie chiller. (Publishers Weekly)
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The Body of the Soul
(Russia) Centrifugal, pensive, often elusive stories by the one of the greatest living Russian writers (and leading anti-Putinist). ... [T]he stories are marvels of economy and the unexpected twist, each a memorable tour de force. A welcome introduction to the short fiction of an essential writer. (Kirkus)
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Crooked Plow
(Brazil) Brazilian writer Vieira Júnior’s alluring English-language debut traces the lives of twin sisters in rural Brazil after a catastrophic accident. Vieira Júnior conveys the girls’ childhood confusion and wonder in hypnotic prose, and he brings the close-knit [town of] Água Negra to life. This heralds the arrival of a welcome voice. (Publishers Weekly)
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The Safekeep
(Netherlands) Two women spend a fraught summer together in the Dutch countryside. This is a beautifully realized book, nearly perfect, as van der Wouden quietly explores the intricate nuances of resentment-hued sibling dynamics, the discovery of desire (and the simultaneous discovery of self), queer relationships at a time when they went unspoken, and the legacy of war and what it might mean to have been complicit in its horrors. A brilliant debut, as multifaceted as a gem. (Kirkus)
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Taiwan Travelogue
(Taiwan) A (fictional) Japanese writer explores the colorful and complex culinary, linguistic, and political dynamics that shaped life in 1930s Taiwan. Yáng's sharp observation blends with sensitive, sometimes subversive political meditations to create a colorful portrait of pre–World War II Taiwan. A moving account of friendship in the shadow of the Japanese Southern Expansion policy. (Kirkus)
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