Landfall
by Nevil Shute | 
Day
by A. L. Kennedy | 
The Illusion of Separateness
by Simon Van Booy | 
Pastoral
by Nevil Shute | 
I Curse the River of Time
by Per Petterson | 
An Indecent Obsession
by Colleen McCullough | 
The Chequer Board
by Nevil Shute | 
The Lamb's War
by Jan de Hartog | 
The Elephant Keepers' Children
by Peter Hoeg | 
The Camomile Lawn
by Mary Wesley | 
Night Sky
by Clare Francis | 
Human Voices
by Penelope Fitzgerald | 
Four Freedoms
by John Crowley | 
Williwaw
by Gore Vidal | 
When All the World Was Young
by Ferrol Sams | 
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
by Christy Lefteri | 
Brodeck's Report
by Philippe Claudel |
Island of a Thousand Mirrors
by Nayomi Munaweera |
Waiting for Eden
by Elliot Ackerman | 
The Wasted Vigil
by Nadeem Aslam |
In Danish Jutland, where the sea freezes over and the Nazis have yet to invade, a young girl dreams of going on a great journey to Siberia, while her brother, Jesper, yearns for the warmer climes of Morocco. With a staunchly Christian mother, a father who is an unsuccessful carpenter, and a grandfather who hangs himself in a cowshed, the relationship between brother and sister flourishes. Jesper has an originality that stands out in the small community, and his sister follows as they wend their way around the town in moonlit and daytime endeavors. The bond between them creates a warmth that grows through the cold and the dark clouds that threaten to overtake their hopes and dreams. As the narrator looks back, she reflects on the harsh realities of her life and the directions in which they ted her.It is out of small and negligible things that a life may be composed, and the beauty of Per Petterson's narrative lies in the resonances of a Ere outwardly barren but so sharply etched, so charged with meaning.