A severely injured nineteen-year-old soldier caught at the frontlines of the Syrian Civil War tries to piece together his life as he waits for aid that may never arrive. As he inches toward death, he recalls the minor and major events of his life and his country that led him so close to death. Told in vignettes that jump across time and place, Samar Yazbek’s newest novel Where The Wind Calls Home is a heart-wrenching story that questions the value of life in a combat zone with equal parts compassion and anger to craft a brilliant war novel. Translated from Arabic by Leri Price, Yazbek’s story introduces English readers to a moment in Syrian history that is equally haunting and beautiful. 

In Suzuki Suzumi’s new novella, an unnamed woman plods through her routine life while the ghosts of her traumatic past resurface, to her increasing dismay. Translated from Japanese by Allison Markin Powell, Gifted was shortlisted for Japan’s respected Akutagawa Prize, making its English release highly anticipated. With a style both clinical and aloof, the novella unfolds a heartbreaking story about the distance and closeness between mother and daughter, of unrealized affection and unfulfilled dreams.

Anita Agnihotri’s newest novel, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha, traces the trajectory of salt from its use as a symbol of resistance against the British Empire in the 1930s to the exploitation of salt farmers in modern-day India. Spanning generations and juggling various points of view, A Touch of Salt is an ambitious novel that questions the fruits of Indian independence. Equally historical and politically relevant, the novel shines a much-deserved light on the Agarias, an often neglected community in western India.

Vikas Swarup is interested in narrative spectacle. His famous novel, Q & A, was adapted into the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, which enthralled a primarily Western audience who had never seen the filth and grit of Mumbai slum life before. The film was a contested breakthrough; some Indians cynically gawked at the exoticised melodrama of it, while others felt profound pride for the recognition of Indians on a global stage. Regardless of where one falls on this spectrum, both the novel and film were highly entertaining. The Girl With The Seven Lives is Swarup’s highly-anticipated return to fiction after a decade, featuring many of the themes that propelled him to fame: bureaucratic corruption, the amoral bourgeoisie, and the systematically oppressed poor.