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Fictional Worlds: 7 Novels to Feed the Imagination
Winter’s best fiction includes the latest from Orhan Pamuk and Celeste Ng, Matthew Quick and anonymous Instagram sensation @DeuxMoi / BY Shinan Govani / January 12th, 2023
Winter’s best fiction is grounded in mystery, history and dystopia, so let your imagination take flight, whether it’s from a fictional island in the Ottoman Empire or contemporary America. We’ve got the latest from Orhan Pamuk, Celeste Ng and Matthew Quick.
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1Nights of Plague From the mind of Turkey’s most famous living novelist and Nobel Prize laureate comes this story of a plague wreaking havoc on the fictional island of Mingheria in the Ottoman Empire, where half the population is Muslim, the other half Orthodox Greek. To control the epidemic, the sultan sends his trusted medical expert to the island. But some of the residents, because of their beliefs, refuse to follow quarantine mandates. Sound familiar? Adding to the chaos is a mysterious murder. With themes certain to echo in our time, expect a sobering tour de force.
From the mind of Turkey’s most famous living novelist and Nobel Prize laureate comes this story of a plague wreaking havoc on the fictional island of Mingheria in the Ottoman Empire, where half the population is Muslim, the other half Orthodox Greek. To control the epidemic, the sultan sends his trusted medical expert to the island. But some of the residents, because of their beliefs, refuse to follow quarantine mandates. Sound familiar? Adding to the chaos is a mysterious murder. With themes certain to echo in our time, expect a sobering tour de force.
2Our Missing Hearts Leaving the 1990s – the setting of her mega-hit, Little Fires Everywhere (made into a well-received TV series starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon) – Ng heads into a near-future dystopia. The author’s latest effort, set during a time when Asian Americans are hounded and vilified by the government and by their neighbours, concerns Bird, who was nine when his mother left, without an explanation, and his dad destroyed every sign of her. Fast-forward three years, when Bird gets a letter from his MIA mom. Cue a journey of blistering self-discovery.
Leaving the 1990s – the setting of her mega-hit, Little Fires Everywhere (made into a well-received TV series starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon) – Ng heads into a near-future dystopia. The author’s latest effort, set during a time when Asian Americans are hounded and vilified by the government and by their neighbours, concerns Bird, who was nine when his mother left, without an explanation, and his dad destroyed every sign of her. Fast-forward three years, when Bird gets a letter from his MIA mom. Cue a journey of blistering self-discovery.
3We Are the Light Grief and hope tangle in this cosy novel from the author best known for The Silver Linings Playbook. Lucas is a widower who lives in a quaint suburb shaken by a recent tragedy. The townspeople view Lucas as a hero, but he doesn’t feel that way. Then there’s Eli, an 18-year-old shunned by the town, who is now camped out in Lucas’ backyard. The two form an unexpected alliance and work to heal both themselves – and the town.
Grief and hope tangle in this cosy novel from the author best known for The Silver Linings Playbook. Lucas is a widower who lives in a quaint suburb shaken by a recent tragedy. The townspeople view Lucas as a hero, but he doesn’t feel that way. Then there’s Eli, an 18-year-old shunned by the town, who is now camped out in Lucas’ backyard. The two form an unexpected alliance and work to heal both themselves – and the town.
4Anon Pls. Blind items – news hits that conceal a subject’s identity – meet the world of the infinite scroll in this fizzy romp, courtesy of the anonymous sotto voce creator of @DeuxMoi, the all-too-real Instagram account with all the celebrity buzz. One part Gossip Girl, one pinch The Devil Wears Prada, it purports to be a rabbit hole of a novel, taking on the rich, the famous and the thirsty.
Blind items – news hits that conceal a subject’s identity – meet the world of the infinite scroll in this fizzy romp, courtesy of the anonymous sotto voce creator of @DeuxMoi, the all-too-real Instagram account with all the celebrity buzz. One part Gossip Girl, one pinch The Devil Wears Prada, it purports to be a rabbit hole of a novel, taking on the rich, the famous and the thirsty.
5Pride and Protest Jane Austen, but make it woke. A contemporary retelling of a familiar story, this shrewd, steamy novel follows Liza B, an African American DJ who, in an attempt to reclaim her Washington, D.C., neighbourhood from a property developer, has her plans for a protest upended when “she mistakes the smouldering hot CEO for the wait staff.” Dorsey Fitzgerald, the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white clan, has always felt a bit out of place. The two butt heads. They swap barbs. Gender, gentrification and racial politics fill out the rest of this foes-to-lovebirds narrative. (
Jane Austen, but make it woke. A contemporary retelling of a familiar story, this shrewd, steamy novel follows Liza B, an African American DJ who, in an attempt to reclaim her Washington, D.C., neighbourhood from a property developer, has her plans for a protest upended when “she mistakes the smouldering hot CEO for the wait staff.” Dorsey Fitzgerald, the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white clan, has always felt a bit out of place. The two butt heads. They swap barbs. Gender, gentrification and racial politics fill out the rest of this foes-to-lovebirds narrative. (
6The Lindbergh Nanny Lifted from history, but giving it a new lens, this roman à clef zeroes in on the most notorious kidnapping in American history: when Charles Lindbergh Jr., was taken from the family home in New Jersey in 1932 and murdered. The case, dubbed “the crime of the century,” made international headlines, largely because the toddler’s father, Charles Sr., was the celebrated aviator. It has been mined endlessly, but now Betty Gow – an obscure Scottish immigrant known as the Lindbergh Nanny, who was often under a cloud of suspicion – gets her own voice in this stranger-than-life tale.
Lifted from history, but giving it a new lens, this roman à clef zeroes in on the most notorious kidnapping in American history: when Charles Lindbergh Jr., was taken from the family home in New Jersey in 1932 and murdered. The case, dubbed “the crime of the century,” made international headlines, largely because the toddler’s father, Charles Sr., was the celebrated aviator. It has been mined endlessly, but now Betty Gow – an obscure Scottish immigrant known as the Lindbergh Nanny, who was often under a cloud of suspicion – gets her own voice in this stranger-than-life tale.
7The Personal Assistant This is a psychological thriller where the boogeyman is not the killer next door, or the husband you thought you knew, but social media. The nightmare gets going when Alex – an Instagram influencer with a million followers and an enviable family – wakes up one morning and finds a scathing post she doesn’t remember writing. But if she didn’t post it, who did? Immediately, trolls are blowing up her Instagram page and messing with her personal life. Subterfuge and murder ensue, carried along by dual timelines and alternating POVs. Going viral has never been so chilling.
This is a psychological thriller where the boogeyman is not the killer next door, or the husband you thought you knew, but social media. The nightmare gets going when Alex – an Instagram influencer with a million followers and an enviable family – wakes up one morning and finds a scathing post she doesn’t remember writing. But if she didn’t post it, who did? Immediately, trolls are blowing up her Instagram page and messing with her personal life. Subterfuge and murder ensue, carried along by dual timelines and alternating POVs. Going viral has never been so chilling.