Civil and Strange by Claire Ni Aonghusa - From a notable new voice in Irish fiction, a refreshingly mature debut that introduces us to three interconnected lives in a vibrant, modern Ireland Civil and Strange transports us to a changing Ireland through the stories of thirty-eight-year-old Ellen; her uncle Matt, a local farmer; and widowed Beatrice, each at a crossroads in their respective lives. (March 2008)

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of the wife of of the legendary Pandavas brothers. (February 2008)

The Deportees: and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle - The eight tales in Roddy Doyle’s first-ever collection of stories have one thing in common: someone born in Ireland meets someone who has come to live there. (January 2008)

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam - As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming, her children are almost grown, and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air. But none of the guests at Rehana's party can foresee what will happen in the days and months ahead. For this is 1971 in East Pakistan, a country on the brink of war. And this family's life is about to change forever. (January 2008)

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks - In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. (January 2008)

The Successor by Ismail Kadare - A new novel from the acclaimed winner of the inaugural Man Booker International Prize for achievement in fiction. The Successor is a powerful political novel based on the sudden, mysterious death of the man who had been handpicked to succeed the hated Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha. (January 2008)

Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee - Takes on the world of politics—a new topic for Coetzee—and explores the role of the writer in our times with an extraordinary moral compass. (December 2007)

The Gathering by Anne Enright - a moving, evocative portrait of a large Irish family and a shot of fresh blood into the Irish literary tradition, combining the lyricism of the old with the shock of the new. 2007 Man Booker Prize winner. (November 2007)

The Adventures of Amir Hamza by Ghalib Lakhnavi - This Islamic saga dates back hundreds of years, perhaps to as early as the seventh century, when oral narratives of the deeds of the prophet Muhammad’s uncle Amir Hamza spread through Arabia, Persia, and the Indian subcontinent, expanding into a marvelous chronicle of warriors, kings, tricksters, fairies, courtesans, and magical creatures. The definitive one-volume Urdu text by Ghalib Lakhnavi and Abdullah Bilgrami appeared toward the end of the nineteenth century, but English translations of this text have always been censored and abridged–until now. (October 2007)

A Free Life by Ha Jin - 1990s America. We follow the Wu family--father Nan, mother Pingping, and son Taotao--as they fully sever their ties with China in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and begin a new, free life in the United States.
(October 2007)

Wilderness by Roddy Doyle - A novel of mothers lost and found, part-adventure, part-family drama with a charm that's all Roddy. (September 2007)

Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai - a stirring, lyrical tale that offers American readers a unique insight into the inner workings of Iranian society. (September 2007)

Gifted by Nikita Lalwani - In this penetrating coming-of-age debut, 14-year-old Rumika Vasi struggles to fulfill her mathematical gifts and her family's demands on them, while also finding friendship and romance. Lalwani does a nice job with the myriad cultural contradictions. (September 2007)

Song for Night by Chris Abani - The story of a West African boy soldier's lyrical, terrifying, yet beautiful journey through the nightmare landscape of a brutal war in search of his lost platoon. (September 2007)

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham - American Football in Italy? Grisham's novel is a charming fish-out-of-water story set in Italy. (September 2007)

Cion by Zakes Mda - The hero of Zakes Mda's beloved Ways of Dying, Toloki, sets down with a family in Middle America and uncovers the story of the runaway slaves who were their ancestors. (August 2007)

The Water Cure by Percival Everett - Everett’s most lacerating indictment to date, The Water Cure follows the gruesome reasoning and execution of revenge in a society that has lost a common moral ground, where rules are meaningless. A master storyteller, Everett draws upon disparate elements of Western philosophy, language theory, and military intelligence reports to create a terrifying story of loss, anger, and helplessness in our modern world. This is a timely and important novel that confronts the dark legacy of the Bush years and the state of America today. (August 2007)

The Complete Stories by David Malouf - (July 2007)

The Savior by Eugene Drucker - A magnetic debut novel from the world-renowned violinist. (July 2007)

Assassin's Song by M.G. Vassanji - In the aftermath of the brutal violence that gripped western India in 2002, Karsan Dargawalla, heir to Pirbaag—the shrine of a mysterious, medieval sufi—begins to tell the story of his family and the shrine now destroyed. His tale opens in the 1960s (August 2007)

Salt by Jeremy Page - Set in Norfolk, England, this is a haunting, evocative portrait of three generations of a family which explores the relationship between people and the landscape in which they live. Atmospheric and lyrical. (July 2007)

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani - In 17th-century Persia, a 14-year-old woman believes she will be married within the year. But when her beloved father dies, she and her mother find themselves alone and without a dowry. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven to pay for their journey to Isfahan, where they will work as servants for her uncle, a rich rug designer in the court of the legendary Shah Abbas the Great. (June 2007)

Swords of Silence by Latik Tekin - Halilhan Sunteriler, would-be entrepreneur, rescues from the scrap heap a red Volvo, which he believes will lead him to big money in business ventures. So he solicits the help of his staunch friend Gogi, the most "cultured" man of the neighborhood, and gradually Halilhan's two younger brothers, Hazmi and Mesut, are also drawn into the project. (June 2007)

Solea by Jean-Claude Izzo - The third and final installment in the remarkable Marseilles Trilogy (including Total Chaos and Chourmo), Solea continues Jean-Claude Izzo's distinctive brand of vibrant crime writing, skillfully evoking a time and place that have captured the hearts and imaginations of readers the world over. (June 2007)

Crossings by Chuang Hua - When it was first published in America in 1968, Chuang Hua's evocative novel Crossings was completely unheralded and quickly went out of print. Years later it would be widely recognized as the first modernist novel to address the Asian-American experience, its deeply imagistic prose—marked by spatial and temporal leaps, an unconventional syntax, and unanticipated shifts in plot. (June 2007)

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan - It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their worries about the wedding night to come. (June 2007)

The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris - For all those who loved Chocolat — Vianne is back! (June 2007)

After Dark by Haruki Murakami - A short, sleek novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the witching hours between midnight and dawn, and every bit as gripping as Haruki Murakami’s masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore. (May 2007)

If You Awaken Love by Emuna Elon - Set in Israel between the Six Day War and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. (May 2007)

The Religion by Tim Willocks - An epic account of the Turkish siege of Malta in 1565—the first of a planned trilogy featuring Mattias Tannhauser, the son of a Saxon blacksmith. (May 2007)