by Jane Harris (2006)
Keeping a journal to record the increasingly unusual duties requested of her by her beautiful mistress, nineteenth-century Edinburgh scullery maid Bessy wonders about her mistress's secret relationship with a dead former maid.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Published in 2006 by Fourth Estate, the novel tells the story of the Biafran War through the perspective of the characters Olanna, Ugwu, and Richard.
Xiaolu Guo
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers heralds the American debut of a remarkably gifted young writer. Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang, the daughter of shoe factory owners in rural China, has come to London to study English. She calls herself Z because English people can't pronounce her name, but she's no better at their language. Set loose to find her way through a confusion of cultural gaffes and grammatical mishaps, she winds up lodging with a Chinese family and thinks she might as well not have left home. But then she meets an English man who changes everything. From the moment he smiles at her, she enters a new world of sex, freedom, and self-discovery. But she also realizes that, in the West, "love" does not always mean the same as in China, and that you can learn all the words in the English language and still not understand your lover.Drawing on her diaries from when she first arrived in the UK, Xiaolu Guo winningly writes the story in steadily improving English grammar and vocabulary. Freshly humorous, sexy, and poignant, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is an utterly original novel about language, identity, and the cultural divide.
Margaret Atwood
Old Babes in the Wood is a celebrated work by Margaret Atwood (Booker Prize Winner, Giller Prize Winner), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.
David Foster Wallace
McCain's promise is a celebrated work by David Foster Wallace (MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Finalist), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.