9 Spectacular Books with International Acclaim

This title really hit me hard, especially once I realized it was fiction tackling the climate crisis. I appreciated witnessing the state of the world through the eyes of four very different people from various walks of life, each with their own agendas, hurts, and mistakes. Discovering how each of the four was connected—Didrik, a father shepherding his family away from wildfires, including his teenage daughter Vilja; Melissa, a social media influencer tucked away in a luxury building; André, the son of an esteemed tennis star—added an extra level of intrigue and expectation, delivering sets of typical interpersonal relationships and circumstances that didn’t vanish simply because the land around them was crumbling.

I can’t say that I’ve read anything set in a remote Armenian mountain village before, and I was excited to dig into such an interesting backdrop. A journey of unlikely romance and surprises begins when Anatolia is sure she will die; of course, expectations for an organized end don’t always result in said death (these things can’t be planned!), and so Anatolia must move on and the story must unfold. In this novel told in three parts, we learn the intricate stories of families and a small town, with a very memorable cast of characters.

Winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize, this story of love, loss, perseverance, and a magical cane in northern India is a special one. It begins with eighty-year-old Ma deeply grieving the loss of her husband, and a grandson uncharacteristically offering a sparkling, seemingly magical cane that changes everything. The cane is Ma’s ticket to a new path—filled with new friendships, a journey to Pakistan, surprising acts of understanding—that becomes a work of experimental fiction with memorable twists and turns. 

Two women, two decades, and three locales in a novel inspired by Greek mythology? There’s so much going on here in the best, most full-bodied way. Characters feel conflicted and real, captivated by love, risking the lives they know for ones that could bring them greater happiness. Seventeen-year-old Calista is suddenly a wife leaving Dublin for Cyprus, and Pilar meets a promising man in her new home of Madrid; yet relationships are not always what they first appear to be, and the novel’s explosive opening that pulls back to show how events unfolded is a gripping literary device.  

Step back and admire that cover for a minute and think about how it makes you feel. To me, it’s atmospheric and provocative, and indicates an immersive read. Thankfully, I wasn’t wrong in my expectations. This somewhat gruesome yet boldly insistent tale (a mutilated body, mysterious circumstances, 1793 Stockholm!) follows Mickel Cardell, an ex-soldier and former night watchman, and Cecil Winge, an impressive lawyer who now consults with the Stockholm police—and, of course, a young woman who just might end up being pegged as the next intended victim.

If you find yourself going through a rough patch, you’ll easily relate to the three women featured in this novel. Sarah’s diagnosis is scary for her children and a sudden barrier to her progress as the sole female partner at her law firm; Giulia deals with family tragedy and financial burdens; Smita must run from her village to give her daughter a better life. From Canada to Italy to India, these strong women remain resilient and courageous, and can inspire the confidence needed to keep pushing on.

A very visual representation of complicated families, AN ATLAS OF IMPOSSIBLE LONGING invents a home swimming in solitude, with people confined to specific spaces. The matriarch is upstairs, her husband in the garden; the widowed father wrestles with unexpected feelings; his daughter, Bakul, takes up with adopted orphan Mukunda. Time causes more camaraderie for some, more anger for others, and Bakul and Mukunda are split apart. But how far from Bengal is Calcutta, really, when love is at stake? Beautiful writing and the unexpected switch from third-person narrative to first helped make this a stand-out novel for me. 

There is something so compelling and jarring about settling in with a series of short stories—beginning to get lost in a set of characters only to jump to a new scene with an entirely separate plot, getting to meet more people and experience different writing styles and perspectives—and this balance aligns itself so well with the tone of Enriquez’s collection. One story tells about a curse and a family shutting themselves into their home as their neighborhood begins to unravel; another follows missing children and the creepy outcome of an investigation. Great choice for a book club, as there is much to discuss!

Set in Haiti, MOONBATH is an incredibly thoughtful and complex novel, offering political and social commentary in the form of a four-generational story narrated largely by a collective female voice. Young girls fall for rich men, brutal regimes turn their sights on innocent victims, a ghost of a murdered family member offers candid insights. The novel can feel heavy at times, but the landscape it explores is of vital importance, the characters introduced with powerful stories to tell.