November Preview: The Best International Fiction & Non-fiction

The Whispering Room | Dean Koontz

It’s either fight, or die…

The second gripping thriller in an exciting new series featuring FBI agent Jane Hawk, from the master of suspense and New York Times No.1 bestselling author.

‘Do what you were born to do’ These are the words that ring in the mind of a mild-mannered and beloved teacher as she drives a car full of burning gasoline into a hotel. This catastrophic act of terror, which kills herself and many others, is deemed to be the tragic death of someone who was clearly insane. But rogue FBI agent Jane Hawk knows the truth. In the wake of her husband’s inexplicable suicide, she picks up the trail of a secret cabal of formidable players who are bent on obtaining world power with a terrifying piece of technology. Driven by a love for her husband and fear for her five-year-old son who she has sent into hiding, Jane has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them.

East of Hounslow | Khurrum Rahman

Meet Jay. Small-time dealer. Accidental jihadist. The one man who can save us all?
Javid – call him Jay – is a dope dealer living in West London. He goes to the mosque on Friday, and he’s just bought his pride and joy – a BMW. He lives with his mum, and life seems sweet. But his world is about to turn upside-down. Because MI5 have been watching him, and they think he’s just the man they need for a delicate mission. One thing’s for sure: now he’s a long way East of Hounslow, Jay’s life will never be the same again.

Coldmaker | Daniel A. Cohen

Eight hundred years ago, the Jadans angered the Crier. In punishment, the Crier took their Cold away, condemning them to a life of enslavement in a world bathed in heat. Or so the tale goes.

During the day, as the Sun blazes over his head, Micah leads the life of any Jadan slave, running errands through the city of Paphos at the mercy of the petty Nobles and ruthless taskmasters. But after the evening bells have tolled and all other Jadans sleep, Micah escapes into the night in search of scraps and broken objects, which once back inside his barracks he tinkers into treasures. However, when a mysterious masked Jadan publicly threatens Noble authority, a wave of rebellion ripples through the city.

The Midnight Bell (Sean Dillon Series 22) | Jack Higgins

“The bell tolls at midnight as death requires it.” But will it finally toll for Sean Dillon & company in the explosive new thriller of murder, terrorism and revenge from the Sunday Times bestselling author. In Ulster, Northern Ireland, a petty criminal kills a woman in a drunken car crash. Her sons swear revenge.
In London, Sean Dillon and his colleagues in the ‘Prime Minister’s private army’, fresh from defeating a deadly al-Qaeda operation, receive a warning: ‘You may think you have weakened us, but you have only made us stronger.’ In Washington, D.C., a special projects director with the CIA, frustrated at not getting permission from the President for his daring anti-terrorism plan, decides to put it in motion anyway. Soon, the ripples from these events will meet and overlap, creating havoc in their wake. Desperate men will act, secrets will be revealed – and the midnight bell will toll.

No Man’s Land | Simon Tolkien

From the slums of London to the riches of an Edwardian country house; from the hot, dark seams of a Yorkshire coal mine to the exposed terrors of the trenches, Adam Raine’s journey from boy to man is set against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world. Adam Raine is a boy cursed by misfortune. His impoverished childhood in the slums of Islington is brought to an end by a tragedy that sends him north to Scarsdale, a hard-living coalmining town where his father finds work as a union organizer. But it isn’t long before the escalating tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, explode with terrible consequences.

George: A Memory of George Michael | Sean Smith

George is the story of two lives – the private man and the public legend. Georgios Panayiotou was just eighteen when he decided to adopt the stage name of George Michael. Sometimes his two worlds would collide with shattering consequences.
Bestselling biographer Sean Smith has gone back to the neighbourhoods of North London to trace the astonishing journey of a sensitive but determined boy who grew up to be one of the biggest British pop stars of all time. Along the way, he talks to those close to George, revealing the real man – funny, articulate, intelligent and generous-spirited – who hid behind the powerful image he created.

Why Dylan Matters | Richard F. Thomas

In Why Dylan Matters, Harvard Professor Richard F. Thomas answers that question with magisterial erudition. A world expert on Classical poetry, Thomas was initially ridiculed by his colleagues for teaching a course on Bob Dylan alongside his traditional seminars on Homer, Virgil and Ovid. Dylan’s Nobel prize win brought him vindication, and he immediately found himself thrust into the limelight as a leading academic voice in all matters Dylanological. This witty, personal volume is a distillation of Thomas’s famous course and makes a compelling case for moving Dylan out of the rock n’ roll Hall of Fame and into the pantheon of Classical poets. The most dazzlingly original and compelling Dylan book in decades, Why Dylan Matters will amaze and astound everyone from the first-time listener to the lifetime fan. You’ll never think about Bob Dylan in the same way again.

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth | Oliver Jeffers

The exquisite and thought-provoking new book from the multi-award-winning, internationally best-selling picture book creator of Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers.
Our world can be a bewildering place, especially if you’ve only just got here. Your head will be filled with questions, so let’s explore what makes our planet and how we live on it. From land and sky to people and time, these notes can be your guide and start you on your journey. And you’ll figure lots of things out for yourself. Just remember to leave notes for everyone else… Some things about our planet are pretty complicated, but things can be simple, too: you’ve just got to be kind.

The Uterus is a Feature, Not a Bug | Sarah Lacy

Working mothers aren’t a liability. They are assets you—and every manager and executive—wants in your company, in your investment portfolio, and in your corner.    There is copious academic research showing the benefits of working mothers on families and the benefits to companies who give women longer and more flexible parental leave. There are even findings that demonstrate women with multiple children actually perform better at work than those with none or one. Yet despite this concrete proof that working mothers are a lucrative asset, they still face the “Maternal Wall”—widespread unconscious bias about their abilities, contributions, and commitment. Nearly eighty percent of women are less likely to be hired if they have children—and are half as likely to be promoted. Mothers earn an average $11,000 less in salary and are held to higher punctuality and performance standards. Forty percent of Silicon Valley women said they felt the need to speak less about their family to be taken more seriously. Many have been told that having a second child would cost them a promotion.

Fortunately, this prejudice is slowly giving way to new attitudes, thanks to more women starting their own businesses and companies like Netflix, Facebook, Apple, and Google implementing more parent-friendly policies. But the most important barrier to change isn’t about men. Women must rethink the way they see themselves after giving birth. As entrepreneur Sarah Lacy makes clear in this cogent, persuasive analysis and clarion cry, the strongest, most lucrative, and most ambitious time of a woman’s career may easily be after she sees a plus sign on a pregnancy test.

All the above books are now available in bookstores.

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