God's Mercy


Kerstin Ekman - 1999
    In this frigid, austere, and isolated territory, she encounters the overwhelming and unpredictable forces of nature and demoralizing poverty and ignorance while also gaining access to the unfamiliar world of nomadic Sami reindeer herders. A single traumatic event, never fully confronted, has devastating and far-reaching repercussions, but Hillevi also finds unexpected warmth and love. Incorporating elements of the jojk oral tradition of Sami culture, God’s Mercy is a thoroughly engrossing story about the capriciousness of memory, the resilience of the human psyche, and the endless wonder of the wild.

The House at the Edge of Night


Catherine Banner - 2016
    At the center of the island’s life is a café draped with bougainvillea called the House at the Edge of Night, where over generations the community gathers to gossip and talk. Amedeo Esposito, a foundling from Florence, finds his destiny on the island with his beautiful wife, Pina, whose fierce intelligence, grace, and unwavering love guide her every move. An indiscretion tests their marriage, and their children—three sons and an inquisitive daughter—grow up and struggle with both humanity’s cruelty and its capacity for love and mercy.Spanning nearly a century, through secrets and mysteries, trials and sacrifice, this beautiful and haunting novel follows the lives of the Esposito family and the other islanders who live and love on Castellamare: a cruel count and his bewitching wife, a priest who loves scandal, a prisoner of war turned poet, an outcast girl who becomes a pillar of strength, a wounded English soldier who emerges from the sea. The people of Castellamare are transformed by two world wars and a great recession, by the threat of fascism and their deep bonds of passion and friendship, and by bitter rivalries and the power of forgiveness, in this richly written and powerful novel.Catherine Banner has written an enthralling, character-rich novel, epic in scope but intimate in feeling. At times, the island itself seems alive, a mythical place where the earth heaves with stories—and this magical novel takes you there.

EO-N


Dave Mason - 2020
    On the heels of her mother’s illness and crushing death, she's pulled into a seventy-four year old mystery by a chance discovery on a Norwegian glacier. 1945: RCAF Squadron Leader Jack Barton flies combat missions over occupied Europe. Major Günther Graf, a war-weary and disillusioned Luftwaffe pilot, is trapped in the unspeakable horrors of Nazi Germany. Their paths, so different yet so similar, are connected by a young victim of appalling cruelty.A story of love and loss, cruelty and kindness, guilt and redemption, EO-N's sweeping narrative takes readers on a riveting journey—from the destruction and cruelty of war to the relentless pressures of contemporary corporate greed—weaving together five seemingly separate lives to remind us that individual actions matter and that courage comes in many forms.

The Survivors


Alex Schulman - 2020
    There is Nils, the oldest, who couldn't escape his suffocating home soon enough, and Pierre, the youngest, easily bullied and quick to lash out. And then there is Benjamin, always the family's nerve center, perpetually on the look-out for triggers and trap doors in a volatile home where the children were left to fend for themselves, competing for their father's favor and their mother's elusive love.But as the years have unfolded, Benjamin has grown increasingly untethered from reality, frozen in place while life carries on around him. And between the brothers a dangerous current now vibrates. What really happened that summer day when everything was blown to pieces?In a thrillingly fast-paced narrative, The Survivors mixes the emotional acuity of Edward St Aubyn, the literary verve of Ian McEwan, and the heart of Shuggie Bain. By brilliantly dissecting a mind unravelling in the wake of tragedy, Alex Schulman reveals the ways in which our deepest loyalties leave us open to the greatest betrayals.

In Every Moment We Are Still Alive


Tom Malmquist - 2015
    even as his father is diagnosed with cancer.Reeling in grief, Tom finds himself wrestling with endless paperwork and indecipherable diagnoses, familial misunderstandings and utter exhaustion while trying simply to comfort his loved ones as they begin to recede from him.But slowly, amidst the pain and fury, arises a story of resilience and hope, particularly when Tom finds himself having to take responsibility for the greatest gift of them all, his newborn daughter.Written in an unforgettable style that dives deep into the chaos of grief and pain, yet also achieves a poetry that is inspiring, In Every Moment We Are Still Alive is slated to become one of the most stirring novels of the year.

Gregorius


Bengt Ohlsson - 2004
    A response to Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Soderberg.

Ittai


Cliff Graham - 2012
    They were the men who came to your father in his hour of need. They were the men who fought with him. They were men, and that is the highest that can be written of them…”Ittai of Gath, a Philistine, has been the enemy of the Hebrews for many years and among their most capable opponents. But now he has been defeated by the fearsome warriors of the Hebrew king David’s army. While a storm rolls in to settle over the central hill country, Ittai escapes his capture and wrestles with his fate until he finds himself at the city of the Jebusites…which David intends to capture.A companion piece to the Lion of War series about the battles of King David, “Ittai” is a short story in the collection known as The Hall of the Mighty Men, set between the events of “Covenant of War” and the upcoming “Song of War.”Narrated by Jehoshaphat, the historian of King Solomon, this collection of origin tales expands the Lion of War literary universe and contains character origins, epic battles, and feats of bravery unable to be included in the novels and upcoming movies.Thrilling and passionate, The Hall of the Mighty Men is another chapter in the epic Lion of War series that fans will enjoy for years to come.

For The Love Of A Sister


Meg Hutchinson - 2005
    When her sister Eden visits her, she is sent away with a stinging slap, to prevent her from catching the predatory eye of Myra's mistress. Puzzled by her sister's behaviour, she sets off to make her way in the world.

CoDex 1962: A Trilogy


Sjón - 2016
    But what the world has never been able to read is his great trilogy of novels, known collectively as CoDex 1962—now finally complete.Josef Löwe, the narrator, was born in 1962—the same year, the same moment even, as Sjón. Josef's story, however, stretches back decades in the form of Leo Löwe—a Jewish fugitive during World War II who has an affair with a maid in a German inn; together, they form a baby from a piece of clay. If the first volume is a love story, the second is a crime story: Löwe arrives in Iceland with the clay-baby inside a hatbox, only to be embroiled in a murder mystery—but by the end of the volume, his clay son has come to life. And in the final volume, set in present-day Reykjavík, Josef's story becomes science fiction as he crosses paths with the outlandish CEO of a biotech company (based closely on reality) who brings the story of genetics and genesis full circle. But the future, according to Sjón, is not so dark as it seems.In CoDex 1962, Sjón has woven ancient and modern material and folklore and cosmic myths into a singular masterpiece—encompassing genre fiction, theology, expressionist film, comic strips, fortean studies, genetics, and, of course, the rich tradition of Icelandic storytelling.

Stranger from Another Land (erilaR, #1)


Hector Miller - 2019
    The Great Khan, Attila, overlord of the Scythian and Germani hordes is no more.The lands of Rome lie in ruin, razed by the Scourge of God.From the ashes of civilization a new power is destined to emerge. Warriors whose fearsome reputation would remain for more than a thousand years.On the plains of Pannonia a boy is born. A boy destined to shape history.Meet Ragnaris, the son of no man.

The Rose and the Crane


Clint Dohmen - 2017
    The place? China-adjacent. If you had told young Simon Lang that he’d spend his best years piloting a boat for a trumped-up Venetian, instead of enjoying the good life back home in Exeter, he’d have laughed in your face. But King Edward IV did not like that Simon was thrice removed from some long forgotten ancestor who was somehow related to the owner of the cow that gave milk to King Henry the Fifth. Or something like that, Simon was not very good at genealogy. But now the Lancastrian lordling has fled to the far reaches of the world to brood on revenge. He’s stranded in these strange waters with money-hungry Captain Aldo Mitacchione, his halfwit first mate Neno, and a crew of starving Italians. But if the strange vessel on the horizon or the unexpected ally on board have anything to say about it, things are about to get stranger.Join smart-talking Simon, fabled samurai Kojiro Takeda, and their band of misfit brothers as they outrun cannibals, outsmart assassins, (attempt to) outdrink Scotsmen, and help Henry Tudor oust the crown from the sociopathic Duke of Gloucester.Note: The area of western Japan that surrounds the cities of Kyoto and Osaka is referred to as the Kansai or "Kinki," region (so get your minds out of the gutter).

Depths


Henning Mankell - 2004
    By delving deep into the male psyche, he has produced a novel at once tense and compelling, but also powerful, moving, and ultimately tragic.

The Kings of the Sea (The Saga of Hasting the Avenger Book 3)


C.J. Adrien - 2021
    With his heart turned black, he rekindles the savagery of his race. In sacking Nantes, his bravery and luck earn him a place in the skalds' songs. Word of his deeds reaches his kin in the North, and more and more sea captains sail to Francia to join him, hoping his luck might help theirs.Thor of Dublin, Hasting's old rival, will seek him out and ask him to join his new alliance of sea kings. Together, they will launch the most ambitious raids their people have ever attempted. They will sail south to the land of the Moors to test their alliance's strength and, if successful, turn their sights to an even more daring prize: Paris.The Norns make nothing easy. A secret affair will risk unraveling the alliance and bring the sea kings to the brink of civil war.

The Illness Lesson


Clare Beams - 2020
    In Ashwell, Massachusetts, at the farm of Samuel Hood and his daughter Caroline, a mysterious flock of red birds descends. Samuel, whose fame as a philosopher has waned in recent years, takes the birds' appearance as an omen that the time is ripe for his newest venture. He will start a school for young women, guiding their intellectual development as he has so carefully guided his daughter's. Despite Caroline's misgivings, Samuel's vision--revolutionary, as always; noble, as always; full of holes, as always--takes shape.It's not long before the students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms. Rashes, fits, headaches, verbal tics, night wanderings. In desperation, the school turns to the ministering of a sinister physician--based on a real historic treatment--just as Caroline's body, too, begins its betrayal. As the girls' conditions worsens, long-buried secrets emerge, and Caroline must confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities around her, the ones who insist the voices of the sufferers are unreliable. In order to save herself, Caroline may have to destroy everything she's ever known.Written in intensely vivid prose and brimming with psychological insight, The Illness Lesson is a powerful exploration of women's bodies, women's minds, and the time-honored tradition of doubting both.

The Historians


Cecilia Ekbäck - 2020
    Laura Dahlgren, the bright, young right hand of Sweden’s chief negotiator to Germany, is privy to these tensions, even as she tries to keep her head down in the mounting fray. When Laura’s best friend Britta is found murdered, however, she is determined to find the killer.Prior to her death, Britta sent a report on the racial profiling in Scandinavia to Jens Regnell, private secretary to the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the middle of negotiating a delicate alliance with Hitler and the Nazis, Jens does not understand why he has received the report. When the pursuit of Britta’s murderer leads Laura to his door, the two join forces to ascertain the truth.But as Jens and Laura attempt to untangle the mysterious circumstance surrounding Britta’s death, they only become more mired in a web of lies and deceit. This trail will lead to a conspiracy that could topple their nation’s identity—a conspiracy some in Sweden will try to keep hidden at any cost.