World Literature in Translation: Languages H-J

Hoping for a family reconciliation, a 90-year-old woman returns to the island prison where she was held by dictator Tito’s government after she made a decision that caused her to abandon her young daughter.

A. B. Yehoshua paints a warm and subtle portrait of a young girl at the cusp of her journey into adulthood.

Expertly dovetailing explosive historical material with flights of imagination, the novel explores the impact of survivor's guilt and traces the footprints of a Holocaust survivor who did her utmost to leave no trace.

A mesmerizing novel about three generations of women who have lost each other—and the quest to weave them back into a family.

Rich with fantastical elements, folklore, and exuberant wordplay, Geetanjali Shree's magnificent novel explores timely and timeless topics, including Buddhism, global warming, feminism, Partition, gender binary, transcending borders, and the profound joys of life. Winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize.

This classic novel by an esteemed Hungarian author follows a young girl’s rebellious coming of age as storm clouds gather portending WW II.

Set in contemporary times, Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming tells the story of a Prince Myshkin-like figure, Baron Bela Wenckheim, who decides to return at the end of his life to the provincial Hungarian town of his birth.

Cold as Hell marks the start of a riveting, addictive new series from one of Iceland's bestselling crime writers.

When a deadly snowstorm strikes the Icelandic highlands, four friends seek shelter in a small, abandoned hunting lodge. It is in the middle of nowhere and there's no way of communicating with the outside world.

In a village of four hundred souls, the infinite light of an Icelandic summer makes its inhabitants want to explore, and the eternal night of winter lights up the magic of the stars.

"The English-language debut of Indonesia's greatest young novelist,

Happy Stories, Mostly is a short story collection by queer Indonesian author Norman Erikson Pasaribu. Blending together speculative fiction and absurdism, these stories ask what it means to be almost happy-to nearly find joy, to sort-of be accepted, but to never fully grasp one's desire.

De Giovanni is one of Europe's most renowned and versatile mystery writers. His award-winning and bestselling novels, all of which take place in Naples, engage readers in gripping tales of Europe's most fabled, atmospheric, dangerous, and lustful city.

Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series has always been greatly praised for its atmospheric, sensual descriptions of Sicily, with its cool beaches and rustic delicacies, it's pure escapism.

In this modern translation and exquisitely crafted portrayal of domestic life, Forbidden Notebook centers the inner life of a dissatisfied housewife, Valeria Cossati, living in postwar Rome.

Told against the backdrop of Naples in the 1960s, a city that itself becomes a vivid character in this lush, atmospheric novel, The House on Via Gemito is a masterpiece of Italian fiction, one that is steeped in Neapolitan lore.

Sandro Veronesi's masterpiece-eminently readable, rich in insight, and filled with interesting twists and revelations-is a portrait of human existence, the vicissitudes and vagaries that propel and ultimately define us all.

The first novel from award-winning author Gianfranco Calligarich to be published in English, Last Summer in the City is a witty and despairing classic of Italian literature.

In this coming-of-age story, Giovanna seeks her true reflection in two kindred cities.

Two teenagers spend the best days of their lives together, but belonging to opposite worlds may eventually tear them apart forever.

Nine mesmerizing stories saturated in the details of Roman life that showcase Jhumpa Lahiri's extraordinary range and virtuosity.

All the Lovers in the Night is acute and insightful, entertaining and engaging; it will make readers laugh, and it will make them cry.

Lady Bird, an unlucky assassin, is tasked with grabbing a suitcase from a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka and exiting at the next stop, but doesn't realize other dangerous passengers are trying to do the same

Books, cats, first love, fantasy -- The Cat Who Saved Books is a story for those who know books are so much more than words on paper.

Dead-End Memories collects the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, quietly discover their ways back to recovery.

Dreamlike, sometimes shocking, and always strange and wonderful, Earthlings asks what it means to be happy in a stifling world.

Philosophical and mysterious, the stories in First Person Singular all touch beautifully on love and solitude, childhood and memory. . . all with a signature Murakami twist.

The thriller--buried in a literary whodunit--explores the mysteries of romantic love, memory and attaining self-knowledge.

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the wedding of a daughter of the grand Ichiyanagi family.

Akari is a high school junior obsessed with "oshi" Masaki Ueno, a member of the popular J-Pop group Maza Maza.

Japanese literary sensation Fuminori Nakamura's latest novel is as a dark look into human psyche--what turns someone into a killer?

Detective Galileo, Keigo Higashino's best loved character from The Devotion of Suspect X, returns in Silent Parade, a complex and challenging mystery.

Tokyo Ueno Station is a book for our times and a look into a marginalized existence in a shiny global megapolis.