F SHA Shatak Bastard of Istanbul Nineteen-year-old Asya has led a sheltered life with her mother and
three aunts in Istanbul, until she meets Armanoush, her brother's
stepdaughter, who flies to Istanbul to reconnect with her past and
introduces Asya to a new world of possibilities and dangers. Publishers Weekly:
"In her second novel written in English (The Saint of Incipient Insanities was the first), Turkish novelist Shafak tackles Turkish national identity and the Armenian "question" in her signature style."
F AVE Avery Teahouse Fire In late-nineteenth-century Japan, Aurelia Bernard, an American orphan,
takes shelter in the Baishian teahouse, where she meets a young woman
who defines the next several decades of her life. Booklist: "Avery, a longtime student of the Japanese tea ceremony, has set her
first novel in late-nineteenth-century Japan, when that
tradition-steeped nation gradually exposed itself to the modern West.
She weaves a memorable saga of two women: Yukako, the daughter of a
respected "tea advisor" to feudal lords, and Aurelia, a French orphan
who traveled to Kyoto at age nine with her uncle, and was adopted by
the tea master's family after he died."
F XIN Xinran Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story Of Tibet
Xinran was born in Beijing in 1958, became a successful journalist and radio presenter in China. Her first international bestseller, The Good Women of China, is about Chinese Women's lives. Sky Burial, her second book, focuses on a Tibetan woman who has crossed the border from Tibet into China. The Asian Review of Books: "Extraordinary...Illuminates the truth in a way mere fact cannot...Xinran has once again written with understanding and compassion about strong women who seem to have stepped out of the pages of a novel...Is Sky Burial true? The strength of the story is that it does not matter."
