20 most anticipated books of 2019

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Translated novels worthy of your reading list.

1. "Winter" by Ali Smith

Scottish writer Ali Smith is working on a series of novels called The Seasonal Quartet, in which each book is dedicated to a specific time of the year. In "Winter" we will talk about the most severe season, which teaches us how to survive.

Winter is the time when the world freezes and shrinks. The days are getting shorter, a piercing wind is blowing, the trees are bare, and the water in the rivers freezes until spring. But not everything is so gloomy. Winter is also a time of magic, long-awaited holidays and a kind of starting point for a new life.

Sophia, her sister Iris, and son Art with their girlfriend get together to celebrate Christmas. Only if they can get along with each other is a good question.

2. The Milkman, Anna Burns

Northern Ireland, mid-1970s. A city whose name no one knows. The main character, an eighteen-year-old girl who calls herself "middle sister", secretly meets with an eccentric man named the Milkman, about whom little is known.

The girl tries her best to hide their connection, but her nephew finds out about the affair and starts spreading rumors. Interest in lovers is growing sharply, and this was not at all part of their plans. The Milkman is a novel about a lot of gossip and a swarm of rumors, and at the same time about silence and deliberate deafness, which entailed dire consequences.

3. "No one is dearer than you," Gabriel Tallent

Julia Olverston, nicknamed the Turtle, lives in solitude with her father in the American backwoods. The girl is strikingly different from ordinary adolescents: she is fluent in survival skills and understands weapons, but she does not get along with people at all. Julia's father can hardly be called an ideal parent. He starts the morning with a drink, and brings up his daughter according to his own strange system.

For a long time, the Turtle does not even suspect that something is wrong in her family. But one day she has a friend, Jacob, who shows by his own example what life and family should be like for a typical happy teenager. Julia realizes that for many years her father openly mocked her, so she decides to protect herself.

4. Everything under, Daisy Johnson

Words have always been important to Gretel. As a child, they, together with their mother, invented a special language that only two of them could understand. However, the heroine has not seen her mother since the age of sixteen, and the memories of her faded and blurred. Gretel grew up a loner and found peace in her work as a lexicographer, where she was accompanied only by silent dictionaries.

But one day the girl's quiet life was interrupted by a phone call. The hospital reported her mother Sarah's admission. Reunited after so many years, Gretel persuades her mother to tell her life story, but because of Sarah's dementia, things become somewhat more complicated.

5. "Where Crayfish Sing" by Delia Owens

In the quiet town of Barkley Cove, there have been rumors for years about the mysterious Swamp Girl kidnapping. When the dazzling handsome Chase Andrews was found dead, suspicions immediately fell on the unsociable Kia Clark. The locals were gossiping that she was the very girl from the legend.

But Kiya was not what those around her imagined. Undoubtedly, the very fact that the girl lived in the swamps and considered birds to be her best friends could seem strange to someone. However, at the same time, she was a captivating beauty who supposedly knew some kind of secret. And then one day two young men became seriously interested in Kia. What happened to them then remains a mystery.

6. "Middle England" by Jonathan Coe

The final part of the trilogy, which began in the novels "The Rakaliy Club" and "The Circle Is Closed". These three books represent a grandiose canvas, covering a huge layer of the history of Foggy Albion from the 1970s to the present day.

"Middle England" is a novel about ordinary people trying to survive in a chaotic and strange modern world. About newlyweds who disagree with the future of the country, about a political commentator who writes columns about asceticism from his townhouse in Chelsea, about a middle-aged man who starts his career from scratch.

And in all these destinies - the life of modern England. A story of nostalgia and delusion, bewilderment and barely contained rage.

7. "The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer", Joelle Dicker

On July 30, 1994, the mayor of the city and his family were killed in a quiet seaside resort. The police, who were entrusted with this investigation, tracked down the killer and even received awards for promptly solving a high-profile case.

Details surfaced 20 years later. Journalist Stephanie Mailer told one of the police officers involved in the case that a monstrous mistake was made in the investigation - the real killer is still free.

After the sensational statement, the journalist disappeared, forcing everyone to puzzle over what really happened on that old summer day.

8. "The Voice", Christina Dalcher

In America of the near future, all women are forced to wear a special bracelet on their wrist. He controls the number of words spoken: they are allowed to pronounce no more than a hundred per day. If you exceed the limit, you will receive a current discharge.

This has not always been the case. Everything changed when a new government came to power: women were forbidden to speak, forbidden to work, deprived of the right to vote, and girls were no longer taught to read and write.

However, Jean McClellan does not intend to agree with such a fate for herself, her daughter and all the women around her. She will fight to be heard again.

9. "Nine Complete Strangers," Liana Moriarty

Nine strangers gather at a closed resort. Someone is here to get in shape. Others came to take a break from the bustle of the city. Some do not even know why they were here.

In the midst of all this luxury and wealth, strangers hope for one thing - to relax well. None of them even thinks of what trials await them in the next 10 days.

10. “Don't Say We Have Nothing,” Madeleine Thien

Mari Jiang's family immigrated to Canada from China, settling in Vancouver. After the suicide of his father, a talented pianist, Marie sits down to sort out his papers and gradually learns what trials he faced.

The events of the past and the present overlap each other, intertwining and turning into a large-scale saga covering three generations and a huge layer of the country's history: from the civil war and the Cultural Revolution to the events in Tiananmen Square. Marie tries to piece together the shattered pieces of the puzzle to recreate her family's history.

11. "Clay Bridge", Markus Zusak

The family saga of Markus Zusak, the author who gave the world the bestseller The Book Thief. This is the story of five immigrant brothers who lost their fathers. They are forced to grow up alone in a turbulent and unfriendly adult world.

One of the brothers, Clay, will take on the role of a man who will build a bridge between the past, present and future of his family. And at the same time he will unravel the mystery of his father's disappearance.

12. "Graveyard Dirt" by Martin O'Kine

This book is an example of Irish modernism, but until recently, almost no one could read it. The fact is that it is written in Irish Gaelic. And for almost 70 years, translators were simply afraid to approach her in order to translate into English. However, in the end, the work was still translated, and now it is being published in Russian.

The characters in the novel are the dead, buried in an Irish cemetery during World War II. Instead of just lying and decomposing, they conduct funny dialogues with each other: they remember the past, make fun of the newly arrived dead, and just gossip.

13. "Serotonin", Michel Houellebecq

According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, this book by Houellebecq is visionary, because the writer managed to predict the movement of the movement of yellow vests yellow vests in France long before real street protests.

The plot of the novel is as follows: an agricultural engineer returns to his homeland, to a small French provincial town. Desolation and decline reign there, which are the result of globalization and not the most successful agricultural policy of the European Union. And to demonstrate their displeasure, local residents stage protests by blocking highways.

This gloomy work-prophecy is intended to show that in the West, everything is not at all as rosy as it might seem.

14. "The Golden House", Salman Rushdie

Influential tycoon Nero Golden and his three sons immigrate to the United States under mysterious circumstances. They change names, come up with new biographies, drive into a huge mansion in Manhattan and very quickly earn themselves a good reputation in the high society of New York society.

The story of a family of wealthy people is told from the perspective of their neighbor, aspiring director Rene, who believes that the Goldens' life is the perfect plot for his mock-documentary.

15. "Parisian Echo", Sebastian Faulkes

Paris Echo is a novel about tangled destinies. It has two main characters: young Tariq, a refugee from Morocco, and Hannah, a graduate student doing her own research.

The girl came to Paris to collect stories of women who survived the German occupation. Tariq has a vague goal of finding out more about his mother, who died when the boy was 10 years old. Hannah spends her time, bit by bit, collecting the Paris of the past, and the Moroccan desperately strives for a brighter future.

16. "Stranger" by Stephen King

The mutilated corpse of an eleven-year-old boy is found in the city park. Witness testimony and fingerprints point to Terry Maitland, coach of the local children's baseball team.

The man has an ironclad alibi, but Detective Ralph Anderson still conducts a public arrest of the suspect. It seems that the culprit has been found and will face a life sentence, but suddenly unknown details of the case emerge.

17. "Heroes" by Stephen Fry

Last year, Greek myths were translated into Russian by Stephen Fry. Now the second book of this antique cycle is being published. It will focus on heroes and their fascinating exploits.

The book will tell how the clever Oedipus solves the riddle of the Sphinx, and Bellerophon, riding Pegasus, overcomes the Chimera. And it will also give you the opportunity to go with Jason and the Argonauts to look for the golden fleece and watch many other brave men who are ready to move mountains for glory.

18. "We Are Against You", Fredrik Backman

"We are against you" is a continuation of the book "Bear's Corner" about a provincial Swedish town where the entire population is obsessed with hockey. Residents of Birtown find out that their local team will soon be disbanded, and for some reason the former players do not give a damn about it.

At the same time, a new team begins to form around the fastest player Amata. But in order for it to rally, it will take a lot of time and effort.

19. "The Wizard's Assistant," Anne Patchett

Young Sabina - a charming assistant of a professional magician-illusionist, who is also her husband - suddenly becomes a widow. After the death of his spouse, it turns out that he did the tricks not only on stage, but also in life. It turns out that all this time he had a different family.

But when faced with unfamiliar names in her will, Sabina does not even think about her husband badly: she loves him too much and therefore decides to get to the bottom of the truth.

20. "The Knife", Yu Nesbo

The twelfth novel about the gripping investigations of the charismatic detective Harry Hole. The new story begins with the detective waking up with a terrible hangover, his hands and clothes covered in blood.

This time, Harry will have to face not only one of his sworn enemies, but also overcome his own fears.